The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) will soon be able to snoop into Whatsapp chats following ongoing plans to set up an advanced forensic laboratory in a bid to detect tax cheats and financial fraud.

In the plans set to curb Tax cheats, the taxman will use the advanced forensic laboratory to mine data from hidden accounts and records from taxpayers' computers and mobile phones.

Special software will be enlisted to be able to access data from Macintosh computers, iPhones, iPads, and Android among other smartphones.

According to the taxman, the tool will have the ability to extract, and analyze data from all types of phones and tablets as well as include a full range of peripherals and accessories needed for mobile forensic investigations including memory card readers, SIM, and micro SIM ID cloning cards, camera, screenshots, faraday bags, and connectors directly from the device.

The moves comes following a shift to online transactions and electronic record keeping adapted by businesses which according to the tax agency, have proved to be problematic for tax audit and investigations.

"A lot of evidence gathered during the course of investigations is digital in nature such as emails, texts, video, audio, image, files and other transactional data on hard disks and other storage media," KRA was quoted as saying so by Nation in a disclosure on the new laboratory.

They added: "The investigations of such crimes require sophistication data acquisition, mining analytics, and storage tools in addition to technical expertise to reconstruct the transactions and provide insights to complex crimes" 

The agency further stated that password protection in digital records has also proved to be a challenge for tax investigators and auditors seeking to gain full access to data from computers and phones confiscated during investigations for tax evasion and fraud.

The new development comes barely a month after the tax agency announced plans to set aside KSH 31.19 million to acquire an intelligence-gathering system in a bid to avert tax evasion in the country.

In the process, KRA introduced strict conditions requiring businesses to acquire internet-based electronic tax registers (ETRs) and connect them to its systems for real-time monitoring of sales.