The Kenyan Government, through the Finance Act, 2020 (the Act) has established a Voluntary Tax Disclosure Programme (VTDP) which shall run for a period of three years with effect from 1 January 2021. Under the programme, a taxpayer is allowed to disclose their tax liabilities that accrued within a period of five years prior to the 1 July, 2020 to the Commissioner for the purposes of being granted a relief of the penalties and interest that may have crystallized as a result of non-compliance.

We are available to assist you take the maximum advantage of this programme to put your tax affairs in order based on our review of your financial records to assess your level of compliance with the various applicable tax laws and any regulations or other subsidiary legislation made under these laws and assist with making a disclosure of the same as outlined in the Act.

Assistance with obtaining a Tax Compliance Certificate

We are able to provide services to assist companies and individuals obtain tax compliance certificates from Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Tax Compliance Certificates are required to show that a company or an individual is compliant with regards to taxes in Kenya. The Certificate has many uses such as it might be required for some tenders, job applications and application for work permits for expatriate employees.

Failure to obtain a Tax Compliance Certificate signifies that the company or individual is non-compliant. We are willing to assist obtain the tax compliance certificates on your behalf.

Tax Advisory on setting up

For new investors looking to set up companies in Kenya, we can provide the various options for setting up an entity in Kenya. An overview of the taxation system in Kenya and specifically;

• The various taxes imposed in Kenya, taxation rate under each tax head and the deadlines for submitting such taxes;
• The various tax incentives that a new company would enjoy upon setting up in Kenya, if any; and The various social security obligations in Kenya and the related tax implications, if any.
• Advise on the various treaties that Kenya has entered into which would in turn inform the optimal organizational structure that the investors may consider;
• Advise on the permits and licences requirements for operating in Kenya;
• Advise on the instances that would lead to the creation of a permanent establishment in the event that a foreign company commences operations in Kenya prior to setting up presence; and
• Advise on any rules on restriction for labour force and the requirements for expatriates to work in Kenya.

Assistance with filing company returns

We shall review and advise on the annual tax computations for the company. This will be carried out during the time of statutory audit. Review the tax position of companies at the time of determining applicability of instalment taxes to companies. We shall also advise on the submission of the online SAR data pack via the iTax platform.

Assistance with application with tax exemption certificates for NGOs

Although most NGOs provide services that are generally of a charitable nature, they have not obtained a tax exemption certificate.This does not provide a tax efficient structure for the NGOs based on their line of business. As such, the NGOs pay corporate tax at the rate of 30% on its business profits to the Kenya Revenue Authority and if not, these NGOs are not tax compliant.

The benefits which would accrue from obtaining a tax exemption certificate

• The NGO shall be exempted from income tax on income received from membership subscriptions and any donations and grants; and
• By virtue of being registered, any cash donation made to it would be an allowable deduction for the donating entity and therefore an incentive towards to the donating entity as opposed to its current status in which such a donation would be a disallowable deduction.