Information Communication Technology Factors And Performance Of Kenya Revenue Authority

ABSTRACT

Information and communication Technology (ICT) plays a basic and key job in empowering associations meet their objectives and destinations. Despite the efforts to adopt ICT in the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) operations to enhance revenue collection, challenges still exist. KRA has failed to hit the set target on numerous occasions. The main objective of the current study was therefore to assess the effect of capability of information and communication technology on performance of Kenya Revenue Authority. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the influence of electronic tax services on performance of KRA, to determine the influence of mobile money services on performance of KRA and to assess the relationship between enterprise information system and performance of KRA. The study was anchored in the technological determinism and technological acceptance models. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design and guided by positivism approach. The target population in this study was made up of all staff members in three levels of management at the KRA head office in Nairobi. A sample of 72 respondents was drawn using Stratified random sampling. This study used structured questionnaires to collect primary data. The study found that there was an increase in the number of tax returns filed online (M=1.63, SD=0.602), online tax system was growing popular among taxpayers (M=1.70, SD=0.944) and that electronic tax systems has resulted in elimination of the tedious, costly & error-prone manual (M=1.76, SD=0.689). The study found that mobile services especially mobile money services have been accepted greatly by taxpayers. Majority of respondents agreed that mobile money services reduces processing costs for KRA (M=1.53, SD=0.505) and that mobile money leads to faster collection of revenue (M=1.55, SD=0.804). Majority of respondents agreed that the enterprise information system reduces information system maintenance cost and increase the ability to deploy new functionality (M=1.82, KRA=0.891). Regression analysis established a very strong positive correlation (r=0.884) between capability of information and communication technology and performance of KRA. 78.1% of the performance of KRA can be attributed to the capability of information and communication technology. The ANOVA output showed that the F value 6.225 is significant (p=0.02) at 95% confidence level. Electronic tax systems (p=0.038) and mobile services (p=0.025) were statistically significant. Electronic tax systems had the largest coefficient signifying that it is the strongest of the three variables followed by mobile services and enterprise information systems. The study concluded that capability of information and communication technology positively and significantly influences performance of Kenya Revenue Authority. The major capabilities in this respect are electronic tax systems and mobile money services which have led to greater revenue collection due to the many advantages they confer taxpayers leading to increased performance of KRA. It was recommended that KRA upgrade their portal site to enhance reliability by reducing downtime. The institution should also subsidize costs related with mobile money services to promote uptake among taxpayers thereby enhancing revenue collection.