🚨🇨🇻 Roberto Lopes (33) was recruited for the Cape Verde national team squad through LinkedIn! 📱
Lopes: "I thought it was a spam message and I took no notice of it." 🤣
He even was once working as a mortgage adviser while playing part-time football for Bohemians. 👏
BBC: “What was your screen time?”
Student: “Nine hours.”
BBC: “You’re gong to have a lot more time to fill. What will you do?”
Student: “Stare at a wall.”
The World Cup begins tomorrow, and many will watch the matches. Soccer reminds us of something we must not forget: life is not a race to show off on our own, but a path we learn to walk together. Anyone who does not know how to pass the ball, even if they have talent, has not yet understood the game. Anyone who does not know how to live with and for others has not yet understood life. #ApostolicJourney
Should the taxpayer still bear the burden of proof in instances where a tax dispute with the Revenue Authority is based in pre-populated & third party data?
In my submission before the National Assembly's Finance & Planning Committee on behalf of the Tax Research Centre at @StrathU, I argue that Finance Bill 2026's proposals seeking to anchor Incomes & Expenses Validation in law will be incomplete if they do not include a proposal for the the Revenue Authority being saddled with the burden of proof in such instances.
Here's why:
· Finance Bill 2026 proposes to amend Sec75 of the Tax Procedures Act to provide that the Revenue Authority may use technology to pre-populate tax returns on behalf of a person required to submit or lodge a tax return
· Finance Bill 2026 further proposes that a person required to submit or lodge a tax return may rely on pre-populated return generated by the Revenue Authority to file their return
· Finance Bill 2026 proposes to amend Sec112 to provide that the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury may make Regulations for the procedure for the submission or lodging of returns based on pre-populated tax returns generated by the Revenue Authority
Here's where the problem is:
· In all this, Sec56(1) which provides that "In any proceedings, the burden shall be on the taxpayer to prove that a tax decision is incorrect" remains unchanged
· Sec56(1) is predicated on the fact that Kenya has been running on a self-assessment based regime & the data upon which tax disputes emerges was held by the taxpayer
· With Incomes & Expenses Validation & the onset of a Dual Assessment regime in Kenya, taxpayers are now exposed not just to errors of judgement & data on their part, but also errors of technology & transmission which are out of their control
· Can we really still have the burden of proof lying exclusively with the taxpayer in an environment where tax compliance has shifted from a function of record keeping to one where system integration reliability is now a key factor?
I came to hard realization that we as Kenyan Developers we are extremely westernized. The influence we have from san fransisco marketing has made us un aware of what our market demands.
We never talk to the SMEs owners, they are the ones who knows the expenditure and consumerism behavior of Kenyans at large. They have all the information, they may not explain it.
My point is we have a huge gap, and I think the ISP guys are the only tech bros who actually understand Kenyan market. Maybe we should break down our software sales into their model of per day per hour or per week.
Sticking to per month with a flat fee when your client tells you this month biashara haijakuwa sawa. They would pay only when they need it, otherwise they will always see it as an expense rather than a solution.
We approach each other from a Kiburi point of view which is why we have stacked github full of solutions they need but cant pay for it, and they have problems knowing very well we cant solve fully.
The Kenyan market is very flexible. It requires the creative mind not sticking to the same software template from Carlifornia. It wont work in Moi Avenue, it wont work in Kamkunji and it will be even worse in Kirinyaga road or Muthurwa.
That is why I respect Pick Up mtaani logistics. These are the guys who studied the volatility of the delivery and logistics scene for online shops. They did not push a software at first, they pushed for pickup stations.
I am learning these the hard way.