The Voluntary Tax Disclosure Programme came into effect on 1st January 2021 and ran for 3 years. It allowed taxpayers to disclose unpaid tax liabilities accrued for the 5-year period prior to 1st July 2020.

In 2004, the KRA conducted a search of the Appellant's business premises and seized records, leading to the discovery of unreported income.  the KRA issued a notice of demand for VAT and income tax, but Awal objected, claiming that the information did not accurately depict the computations. In an effort to resolve the issue, Awal applied for tax amnesty in October 2004, submitting all the required documents.

 Awal contended that the Finance Act, 2004, Section 123A was introduced to effect tax amnesty, and that the Value Added Tax Act could not be subject to the barring provision found under Section 123A of the Income Tax Act.  Awal argued that the KRA accepted the Appellant's amnesty disclosure when it cashed the Appellant's check for Ksh. 1,589,039 and credited it to the Appellant's ledger. Therefore, Awal maintained that by raising an assessment for the same years and identical income that the amnesty had covered, the KRA had violated the law.

However, the KRA rejected the Appellant's amnesty application, citing that  Awal did not meet the requirem...