Lewis Njoka @LewisNjoka
Employers want the deadline for filing employee data to the National Employment Agency extended from the eighth day of every month.
Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Mugo said directive by the National Employment Authority (NEA) that requires employers to submit employee information by that day piles pressures on FKE members as they have to file other returns such as Pay-As-Your-Earn, Value Added Tax and National Hospital Insurance Fund deductions. Already, the newly formed State agency has instructed employers to file returns by August 8 or face consequences.
“Make it voluntary for employers to file employee data as opposed to threatening them with fines and jail terms,” Mugo said on Friday. Last month, NEA directed employers to file employee data, including vacancies and terminations failure to which one would be slapped with a Sh100,000 fine, a six-month jail term, or both. However, Mugo clarified that FKE was not against members complying with the directive as it would help the government in planning.
On the proposed housing levy, Mugo reiterated that the position of FKE remained unchanged saying that it was a good intiative that was being implemented poorly.
FKE is concerned about the impact the levy will have on employment costs as employers will be mandated to make contributions and that there was no public participation on the matter.
“It’s a good idea but Kenyans should have a say in it. They should be allowed to decide whether they want to buy or rent houses.”
Mugo called on the government to consider expanding the formal sector, even as it strengthened the informal one, to ease the taxation burden on the three million taxpayers in salaried employment.
A court case filed by the Consumer Federation of Kenya has since halted the implementation of the housing levy which requires employers to deduct one per cent of employee’s salary, and top it with a similar amount, to go towards a housing fund.
