Challenges of Value Added Tax on International E-Commerce in Electronic Goods and Services in Kenya

The current study was on the effectiveness challenges of value added tax on international e-commerce in electronic goods and services in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 199 KRA VAT officers. The sample size was 50 officers. Primary data were used in this study. For primary data, the data collection instrument used in this study was questionnaires. These questionnaires were used to collect data from the taxation authority officials dealing with VAT. The questionnaires were administered via e-mail surveys and personal visits to respondents, that is the KRA VAT officers. The research findings revealed that the major challenges against an effective VAT system for international e-commerce in electronic goods and services in Kenya included the lack of attention to e-commerce as a unique industry in the VAT Act and the lack of unique policies to regulate the sector. From questions posed to the KRA VAT officers, it emerged that there was a lack of proper and adequate resources, and their usage, within the taxation authority to monitor the industry. The website owners commonly complained of the lack of proper infrastructure that hindered the growth of the industry, for example, the lack of a proper banking and financial infrastructure. it is recommended that the taxation authority (KRA) should make its internal administration processes and policies more efficient and grow with the technology as it grows, for example, through providing e-services to taxpayers to start with. The industry must be regulated through proper policies and legislation before KRA can contemplate properly obtaining the rightful tax from it. There is need to address e-commerce as a unique medium of transactions, demanding its own tax legislation. KRA should solicit the cooperation of stakeholders to regulate the industry, for example, Internet Service Providers could bill their clients on behalf of KRA through a withholding tax. Similarly, banking institutions could withhold value added tax, if need be, on financial transfers for electronic transactions carried out online. There is scarcity of information about the effectiveness challenges of Value Added Tax on International E-Commerce in Electronic Goods and Services in Kenya and in developing economies in general and this paper expands the existing knowledge base. Therefore, the unique contribution of the study has been to bring to light what is unknown about the effectiveness challenges of Value Added Tax on International E-Commerce in Electronic Goods and Services in Kenya. Keywords: Effectiveness Value Added Tax, International Ecommerce, Electronic Goods and Service

Review of Peter K. Norquest, A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (Leiden/Boston, Brill, ISBN 978-9004-30052-1 (E-Book)), 2016

This recent addition to the Brill “The Languages of Asia” series, although outwardly rather arcane, makes an important contribution to the wider field of SEAsian linguistic history that bridges mainland and insular languages at a cross-roads of multiple language families (and especially relates to the Kra-Dai language family). The book is derived essentially unchanged from Norquest’s 2007 University of Arizona PhD dissertation, and I congratulate Brill for rendering it into print - this will ensure it now begins to appear up in academic libraries and online databases worldwide. The e-book edition was provided for this review, but for those who prefer the tactile there is a handsome hardback available. The book is accompanied also by a separate PDF index of “Hlai Language Data and Proto-Hlai Reconstructions” which runs to 192 pages (regrettably the entries are not numbered but there are over 1,000) and this constitutes a fundamental resource for Kra-Dai historical studies that has previously been difficult to access

Compliance Nexus and Conflict between e-Commerce and Value Added Tax in Kenya

The current study was to establish the level of e-commerce and level of vat compliance with respect to international e-commerce in electronic goods and services. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of this study was 199 VAT officials of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) that deal in VAT audit and a total of twenty e-businesses found to be operating in Kenya through a preliminary survey. Ten more e-businesses were identified through the snow-balling method. The sample size in this study was 30 e-businesses and 50 VAT officers. Both secondary data and primary data were used in this study. For primary data, the data collection instrument used in this study was questionnaires.  As seen from the results, the average number of business processes supported online for the 24 e-businesses was 4.83 out of 12. Apart from this there was a significant level of online activity carried out by the businesses, for example, online payment mechanisms and electronic methods of keeping records were used by many e-businesses. Most e-businesses carried out a minimal level of international trade. From these results, it can be concluded that the existing e-businesses in Kenya do carry out a significant level of electronic activity locally, and a minimal level of international trade. However, VAT compliance may be poor, as both the tax authority and website owners did not understand well the value added tax implications of electronic trade.There was a significant level of e-commerce in Kenya carried out locally, and a minimal level of international e-commerce. This sheds doubt on the level of tax compliance in the industry. It is therefore recommended that KRA carry out appropriate research on the level of e-trade in Kenya and tax implications of the same. Relevant stakeholders should be involved in such consultation and research, for example, it is recommended that banks and financial institutions dealing with money transfers for e-transactions should provide statistics on the level of international e-commerce in Kenya to determine the seriousness of the trade. This information would enable KRA to determine the tax implications of such transactions and accord appropriate resources to monitor the industry. The unique contribution of this study is the closure of a previously identified research gap and the discovery that poor VAT compliance for Ecommerce businesses, is caused by both tax man and Ecommerce business owners, as both the tax authority and website owners did not understand well the value added tax implications of electronic trade. Keywords:E commerce, Vat Compliance, Electronic Goods and Service

Teachers’ Perspectives on Year Two Implementation of a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

In this study we examined teachers’ perspectives regarding the second year of implementing a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). Using a mixed-methods approach, we focused on the administration process, the perceived benefits of the assessment, and how teachers used the assessment to inform instruction. We also investigated whether these differed by teacher and district characteristics and how KRA experiences were different in the second year of implementation. Research Findings: Teachers generally did not view the KRA as beneficial for instruction or for students, reporting administration difficulties, inadequate KRA content, and limited utility of KRA data for supporting instruction as ongoing barriers to KRA use. Although the administration process seemed to be easier in the second year, teachers still reported it as burdensome, cutting into important beginning of kindergarten activities. Notably, teacher training and experience were associated with perceptions. Practice or Policy: Reasons for perceived lack of utility have important implications for future KRA design and implementation. These include better integration of KRAs into existing assessment systems, recognizing the added burden of KRAs to teachers (particularly at the beginning of kindergarten), and the role that additional training may have in supporting use of KRAs at the local level

A Dynamic Game Analysis and Design of Infrastructure Network Protection and Recovery

Infrastructure networks are vulnerable to both cyber and physical attacks. Building a secure and resilient networked system is essential for providing reliable and dependable services. To this end, we establish a two-player three-stage game framework to capture the dynamics in the infrastructure protection and recovery phases. Specifically, the goal of the infrastructure network designer is to keep the network connected before and after the attack, while the adversary aims to disconnect the network by compromising a set of links. With costs for creating and removing links, the two players aim to maximize their utilities while minimizing the costs. In this paper, we use the concept of subgame perfect equilibrium (SPE) to characterize the optimal strategies of the network defender and attacker. We derive the SPE explicitly in terms of system parameters. Finally, we use a case study of UAV-enabled communication networks for disaster recovery to corroborate the obtained analytical results.Comment: 6 page

High energy parton-parton amplitudes from lattice QCD and the stochastic vacuum model

Making use of the gluon gauge-invariant two-point correlation function, recently determined by numerical simulation on the lattice in the quenched approximation and the stochastic vacuum model, we calculate the elementary (parton-parton) amplitudes in both impact-parameter and momentum transfer spaces. The results are compared with those obtained from the Kr\"{a}mer and Dosch ansatz for the correlators. Our main conclusion is that the divergences in the correlations functions suggested by the lattice calculations do not affect substantially the elementary amplitudes. Phenomenological and semiempirical information presently available on elementary amplitudes is also referred to and is critically discussed in connection with some theoretical issues.Comment: Text with 11 pages in LaTeX (twocolumn form), 10 figures in PostScript (psfig.tex used). Replaced with changes, Fig.1 modified, two references added, some points clarified, various typos corrected. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Tur\'an type inequalities for Kr\"atzel functions

Complete monotonicity, Laguerre and Tur\'an type inequalities are established for the so-called Kr\"atzel function $Z_{\rho}^{\nu},$ defined by Z_{\rho}^{\nu}(u)=\int_0^{\infty}t^{\nu-1}e^{-t^{\rho}-\frac{u}{t}}\dt, where $u>0$ and $\rho,\nu\in\mathbb{R}.$ Moreover, we prove the complete monotonicity of a determinant function of which entries involve the Kr\"atzel function.Comment: 9 page