Abstract

Every year the Kenyan Government sets targets of the amount of tax it intends to collect. However, it is noted that often times the Kenya Revenue Authority fails to achieve these targets. Hence it necessitates an investigation into ways to improve revenue collection which gives rise to this study.  The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of technological uptake on Pay As You Earn tax performance. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the effect of E-registration on Pay As You Earn tax performance, to determine the effect of E-filing on Pay As You Earn tax performance and to establish the effect of E-payment on Pay As You Earn tax performance. The theories that guide this study are: Technological Acceptance Theory and the ability to pay theory. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The population of the study was Medium taxpayers registered under the Medium Taxpayers Office of Kenya Revenue Authority. There were 3,972 medium taxpayers registered under the Medium Taxpayers Office as at 31st December, 2017. A census of the 3,972 medium taxpayers was used. The study used secondary data collected from KRA records and reports. This helped get data on registration uptake, returns filed, the number of transactions completed through the payment gateway and tax collected. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were carried out with the help of the SPSS software. Data was analysed using regression analysis by the use of a linear regression model whereby Pay As You Earn tax performance was the dependent variable and the independent variable was technological uptake. In the first research question, the study found that the e-registration technology enhanced PAYE tax performance significantly, although the effect was weak. On the other hand, the study found that E-filing technology affects PAYE tax performance significantly and the effect was strong, while in the last research objective it was established that e-payment influences PAYE tax performance significantly. Technological uptake has caused a variation of 93.4% (R2=0.934). The study recommends that KRA should scale up the use of technology in all tax streams to enhance tax revenue collection and performance. The study also recommends concerted effort from the KRA management on creating awareness of the tax systems, to consistently and incrementally grow technology, while managing change to enhance uptake. In addition, during the upgrade or change over, KRA should manage the stages seamlessly to ensure that the momentum of the uptake does not stagnate