The ordeal that was filing income tax online

What you need to know:

  • I used my technical insight to work around the system, indicating I had forgotten my password, and forcing it to email me a "new" one. 
  • How is Wanjiku expected to go through this animated online help module, given a below-average Internet link and a much slower computing device at the local cyber-cafe?
  • My PC clock was now reading 11.45pm, June 30, 2015, just fifteen minutes before the original taxman's deadline.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been leading the Kenyan digital revolution over the last decade.  

Ten years ago, the KRA automated and pushed through the customs system that had been resisted by customs agents who seemed to prefer the manual system that allowed brokers to extract bribes.

Since then, more KRA services have moved online, with the latest being iTax , which aims to get all Kenyans filing their tax returns online. 

KRA, in its efforts to maximise tax collection, is playing a leading role in promoting ICT adoption, beyond the traditional confines of the ICT sector.

With its critical and often mandatory citizen services, the KRA has a unique opportunity to compel citizens from diverse sectors to adopt ICTs.

As a country, wider adoption of ICT services will simultaneously lift our productivity and raise our competitive edge. That is why the KRA's recent iTax initiative must be lauded as a great ICT game-changer, even if it may have been driven by the need to increase tax collection and improve tax management. This is the good part.

The bad news is iTax, despite being in its second year running, is really hard to use.  As an ICT professional who struggled over three days to push in my returns, I really wondered how the not-so-technical Kenyans fared.

WHERE'S THE PASSWORD?

A text version of the help module exists but it is much less prominent than the animation on the KRA's home page.

Although there was information in the help section, it did not outline all the steps sequentially, from start to finish.

After the PIN-confirmation process, I proceeded to type in my PIN to start the next stage of the process, when the system asked me for my password. What? 

I could not recall any step during the PIN-confirmation process that had saved my suggested password, although I am told the system was supposed to notify me of a password being emailed to me.

Anyway, since I was determined to submit my returns, I used my technical insight to work around the system indicating I had forgotten my password, and forcing it to email me a ‘new’ one. 

Unfortunately, the emailed password never comes! I kept checking my email system across all the folders including “junk”, where many a time valid mail gets lost, but nothing was forthcoming from the KRA.

I kept requesting a new password and finally on the second day, the system sent a new password to my email account. 

Fortunately, the new password worked and I got into the “File Returns” menu and properly commenced the online tax return process.

STUBBORN MACROS

Once inside the system, I noticed the option to download the compressed Tax form and quickly did so.  Upon extracting it, I discovered it was an Excel worksheet with macros and instructions on how to proceed.

How on earth is “Wanjiku” supposed to even understand what Excel is all about, leave alone the Macros and extraction processes?

Anyway, I proceeded to complete the worksheet and the macros on the first page kept rejecting my input – without offering any hints as to why. 

I finally decided I was lost and reached out for help by visiting the KRA website and clicking on the iTax animated help page.  

I waited a minute, actually ten minutes, before I realised the animation was just too heavy to load and run on my mobile internet link, yet I believe my internet link and computing device are quite decent and above the average Kenyan standard. 

So how is Wanjiku expected to go through this animated online help module, given a below-average internet link and a much slower computing device at the local cyber-cafe?

I eventually decide to ignore the 'Help' option and use my brute force computing experience to complete the tax file. An hour later when I was done, I quickly realised that I needed more than brute computing experience.

STERN EMAIL WARNING

What I actually needed to complete the worksheet was some tax expertise, because the system was now telling me I owed the taxman close to a quarter of a million Kenya shillings, from where I don't know.

My PC clock was now reading 11.45pm, June 30, 2015, just fifteen minutes before the original taxman's deadline.  I had two options: either ignore the process as I sought tax expertise or simply upload the file with errors and later seek tax expertise.

I opted for the latter, uploading a file that claimed I owed the tax man some serious money. Not a pretty situation - having to chose between defaulting or filing wrong returns. 

The system accepts my file and automatically sends me a stern email warning with regard to my supposedly pending tax. I silently curse and then wish that all the other modules were this efficient.

Later on, I watch the commissioner-general on the media proudly announcing that there were two million online tax submissions so far. But one wonders how many of these contain the correct information. Worse still, how many millions failed to file the returns because of tech hiccups or simply fear of being wrongly penalised?

Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya's Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter:@jwalu email: [email protected]