The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced a scheduled four-hour maintenance on its iTax system, temporarily disrupting online tax services for all users.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

KRA stated that the maintenance window will begin on Sunday, 17th May 2026, at 10:00 pm and run until Monday, 18th May 2026, at 2:00 am, a four-hour period scheduled to improve system reliability and service delivery.

“Please be advised that there will be a scheduled maintenance of iTax from Sunday, 17th May, 2026, 10:00 PM to Monday, 18th May, 2026, 2:00 AM. We regret any inconvenience caused,” stated KRA.

According to the taxman, the downtime is part of a routine system maintenance aimed at enhancing performance, strengthening security features and ensuring smoother access for users during peak filing periods across the country’s tax calendar this year’s cycle.

📌 What You Need to Know

iTax is KRA's integrated digital platform that automates domestic tax administration, enabling individuals and businesses to handle all tax obligations online, including PIN registration, filing returns, payments, and compliance certificates.

The downtime implies that key functionalities, including taxpayer registration, filing annual or monthly returns, generating payment slips, real-time ledger management, and applying for Tax Compliance Certificates through the secure online portal, will be impacted during the four-hour lapse.

During scheduled iTax downtime, KRA engineers optimize databases, scale server capacity, and clear caches to ensure the portal handles millions of users efficiently, particularly ahead of the June 30 filing deadline.

KRA's technical teams also deploy software updates during these windows, implementing new tax laws, rolling out interface features, fixing bugs, and integrating government systems such as e-TIMS and customs management networks.

Additionally, security teams simultaneously patch vulnerabilities, update firewalls, and run backup audits to protect taxpayer data.

Of essence is that KRA has conducted at least four planned iTax portal maintenance outages in 2026 , and twice in the month of May.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke