Hi wazuans, please help me understand what Tax relief is all about. I have just gotten a new job and my payslip came late. Now i remember reading about tax relief in upper primary school and the figure was still the same. 1192. What i don't understand is what the figure stands for. Someone please educate me.

What cheap stuff do you smoke??
Is this the definition of TAX relief??

Well thats not what I learned in tax 101..

@guru, ok i have put that stuff down.. pick it up later. here goes KRA word for word

"PAYE is a method of collecting tax at source from individuals in gainful employment. The employer deducts a certain amount of tax from his / her employee's salary or wages on each payday then remit the tax to the Authority. This relieves the employee from paying taxes at the end of the year and shifts the responsibility to the employers.

Every individual who receives income is granted a tax credit or a tax relief from the Authority, this is known as Personal Relief. Insurance relief and mortgage relief are also available for eligible persons. The total tax credit is spread evenly during the charge year. At the end of the year, an individual will submit his self-assessment on total income received from various sources. Should the tax credit be lower than actual tax charged during the year, the balance of tax due will be payable."

Rather than offering the "discount", why not reduce the tax? Just a thought...

@Mblue & jerry;

When you say "reduce the tax", do you mean reduce the TAX RATES?

I think you missed the point.

The intention is NOT to tax you less; it is to ensure that low income earners are excluded from paying tax, but are registered as tax payers...so that when their incomes increase, they can automatically start paying taxes.

If you simply reduce the tax rates or widen the brackets, you end taxing the low income group. Remember that for this group, any deduction however small can make the difference between having supper tonight or not.