Income Tax – Married Woman's Income to be clubbed with Income of Her Husband?
SECTION 45(1) The income of a married woman living with her husband shall be deemed to be the income of the husband for the purpose of ascertaining his total income, and shall be assessed on, and the tax thereon charged on, the husband; but that part of the total amount of tax charged on the husband as bears the same proportion to the total amount as the amount of the income of the wife bears to the amount of collection and recovery of tax shall apply to that part of the tax as if it were tax the due date for the payment of which is a date thirty days after the date of a notice served on the wife, or her executors or administrators, as the case may be, requiring payment.
Provided that the income of a married woman shall not be deemed to be the income of the husband where such married woman opts to file a separate return from that of her husband.
++ Where a married woman is not living with her husband, each spouse shall, for the purposes of the Act, be treated as if he or she were unmarried.
++ For the purposes of this Act, a married woman shall be treated as living with her husband unless-
a. they are separated under an order of a court of competent jurisdiction or under a written agreement of separation; or
b. they are separated in such circumstances that the separation is likely to be permanent; or
c. she is a resident person and her husband is a non- resident person.
Is this discrimination against men or women? The liability is always on the man unless his wife chooses to file her return and the man has no choice! If the woman chooses not to file the return, Revenue Authorities can collect tax and penalty from the husband. The husband can even go to jail if the wife does not file her return and does not tell her husband what her income is.
Don't worry; you are not affected. This is the Income Tax Act of Kenya, Section 45 of which provides this special provision for women regarding tax matters. Getting married may not be the best of economic propositions for the Kenyan men.