The High Court has directed economist David Ndii to pay Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) KSh 2.8 million.
The said amount is VAT for his income between 2011 and 2015.
The court battle was centered on whether KRA made a mistake by not informing Ndii that he had crossed the KSh 5 million annual sales mark.
However, Justice David Mjanja argued that Ndii had a duty to register as a VAT collection agent even though KRA did not prove that it wrote to Ndii over his tax dues.
The Tax Appeal Tribunal ruled that the VAT claim was invalid since KRA did not use the correct way to notify Ndii of his KSh5 million threshold.
The ruling prompted KRA to sue Ndii over the same.
“I also hold that while notification of registration by the Commissioner is a mandatory requirement, it does not invalidate the effective date of registration in light of the duty imposed on the taxpayer to register for VAT once it has reached or expects to reach the threshold for registration,” the judge ruled.
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In 2017, KRA wrote to Ndii demanding KSh 11, 395,591 arising from income tax estimated at KSh 8.4 million and another KSh 2.9 million arising from VAT.
Ndii was not registered as a VAT agent and KRA went ahead and listed him, prompting the Sh2.8 million demand.
The court heard that KRA had accessed Dr Ndii’s bank accounts to establish his financial dealings.
Ndii is an economist and author with The Telegraph describing him as one of Africa’s best known economists and an outspoken anti-corruption crusader.
Following his fallout with his boss, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, he has been an open critic of the economic policy of the Uhuru Kenyatta administration.
He has written several open letters and tweets criticising the government’s economic policies and borrowing of loans.
As such, Ndii was once barred from accessing the Technical University of Mombasa for “security reasons”.
