(Ecofin Agency) - Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has set up a special unit to track income generated through digital businesses with particular focus on companies such as Google, which do not have a physical presence in the country but still generate money on the market.

According to Caxton Masudi (pictured), the deputy commissioner in charge of policy and domestic taxes, the move is to “ensure that the digital market sector pays their fair share of taxes.”

Under this strategy, KRA will work together with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), telecom operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and Kenyan banks, to monitor any financial transaction made from a credit card or SIM card for a service delivered to an IP address in Kenya.

Taxes on digital revenues represent a significant share of revenues that the government can no longer ignore, especially with the economic fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic.