Lost your KRA PIN or iTax password? Your options

Why people get locked out

The most common case is simple: the password was forgotten. iTax can send a new one, but only to the email address registered on the PIN. If that email still works, recovery is quick.

The second case is the one that causes real delays. The PIN was registered by a cyber café, an employer or a relative, using their email or a throw-away address. Years later nobody can open that inbox, so every reset goes into a void. Until the email on the profile is changed, the password cannot be recovered.

People who were registered by a school, a college or an employer during a group registration often fall into this case too. The details were typed by someone else, sometimes with names in a different order or a misspelling, and the person never saw the confirmation email. The PIN works, but nobody can prove ownership through the email on file.

A third case is a locked account after several wrong attempts, and a fourth is a duplicate PIN: the person registered twice, often once as a student and once for a job, and now has two PINs linked to one ID. KRA allows only one, so the extra one has to be dealt with before things work smoothly.

If you forgot your KRA PIN itself

Your PIN number is printed on the PIN certificate and appears on many documents you may already have: payslips, P9 forms, bank account opening forms, loan papers and some SIM registration records. Checking these first often saves time.

Once you can log in, iTax lets you reprint the PIN certificate at any time, and the PIN checker on the portal confirms whether a PIN is valid and whose name it belongs to. Employers and banks use the same checker, so a reprinted certificate is as good as the original.

Be careful with websites and social media accounts that offer to look up a PIN from just an ID number. Your PIN is tied to your tax record, and handing your ID details to an unknown site is how fake loan applications and wrong returns in your name begin. Use the official portal or a service you trust, and never share your iTax password.

If you cannot find the number anywhere, KRA can confirm it after checking your identity, using your national ID details. Our KRA PIN update and password recovery service handles this for you, including the identity details KRA asks for.

When the email on file is the real problem

Changing the email address on a PIN is a request KRA reviews, because whoever controls the email controls the account. KRA needs to be satisfied that the person asking is the PIN holder. That means your ID details must match the PIN record exactly: names in the same order, the same ID number and date of birth.

This is why it matters that the new email is one you personally own and will keep. Avoid an employer address that you will lose when you change jobs, or a shared family address. A personal email that you check regularly is the right choice, and it is where KRA will send every future password, acknowledgement and notice.

Expect to give your full names exactly as on your ID, your ID number and date of birth, and sometimes a clear copy of the ID. Requests from people who cannot show that they are the PIN holder are refused, which protects you as much as it slows you down.

Also check the phone number on the profile. KRA uses it for some notices and confirmations, and an old SIM that has since been recycled to another person is a weak point. Updating both the email and the phone at the same time saves a second request later.

While the email change is pending, nothing else on iTax can be done for that PIN, including filing returns. If a deadline is close, start early. If you also have returns to catch up on, our guide on nil returns or income tax returns explains which ones to file once you are back in.

Keeping access once you have it back

Save your PIN certificate somewhere you control, such as your own phone or email, rather than on a shared computer. Write down which email is linked to your PIN. Use a password for iTax that you do not use elsewhere.

If someone else registered the PIN for you, assume they may still know the old password and change it at once. Check your ledger and your returns history for anything filed that you did not file yourself. A wrong return filed in your name is yours to fix.

It also helps to log in once in a while even when nothing is due. A quick look at your ledger and returns history every few months catches surprises early, such as a penalty, a notice from KRA or a return you did not file, while they are still small and easy to deal with.

Finally, if you discover a second PIN linked to your ID, do not keep using both. Ask KRA to deal with the duplicate so that all your returns sit on one record. If you have never had a PIN at all, a new KRA PIN registration is the starting point instead.

Common questions