So I found myself in this situation:

I've been filing my returns faithfully every financial year without fail. One day as I was browsing the itax platform, I discovered that I owe KRA about half a million in unpaid taxes and this basically matches the PAYE deducted by my previous employer for the years I worked there.

Question is, what should I do? Will I have to pay this money or can I compel my previous employer to remit what he deducted? Let me add that the rogue employer is a county government.

@Shak, It's the employer's responsibility to deduct and remit PAYE. You are therefore not exposed since deductions were made on your pay, but the rogue employer did not remit.

Most employers in default are in default because they simply don't have money to pay not because they are rogue.The business environment is quite hostile on the ground

Exactly @Angelica Ann. They receive money from national government for salaries so it's not that there is no money. Those deductions must have gone into someone's pocket

Since when did people start getting compliance certs for PAYE? Hiyo ni porojo.

The worst is when you're employed by an international company through a subcontracted local HR agency that doesn't remit. I know of one such company and the arreas to KRA are in hundreds of millions but the question is, how did it get there? Clearly it's with the blessings of senior personnel in KRA. Kenya is just too corrupt.