Kenya's Revenue Authority reported a loss of Sh9.1 billion in fuel VAT revenue between April and May 2026 after the government cut the fuel VAT rate from 16 % to 8 %. The reduction was aimed at easing consumer pressure from rising fuel prices, significantly reducing KRA's revenue from a key tax stream.
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VatCalc · 21 days ago
Kenya's Finance Bill 2026 expands VAT coverage to include a wide range of digital financial and payment processing services, effective 1 July 2026. Commissions earned by payment service providers on these services will be standard-rated for VAT, replacing previous exemptions. The change requires PSPs to reassess VAT treatment, update invoicing systems, and review contracts and pricing structures.
Kenyan Wallstreet · about 1 month ago
Kenya Revenue Authority will automatically link export records from the customs platform iCMS to VAT returns in iTax starting May 2026, requiring exporters to have verified export values linked to their PIN and valid electronic tax invoices. This eliminates manual zero‑rated sales declaration, blocks unsupported refund claims at source, and extends oversight to services exports prefilled via electronic invoices.
Kenyans · about 1 month ago
The Kenya Revenue Authority will integrate export VAT return data from its integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) with the iTax filing platform effective May 2026. Exporters will see validated export values automatically prefilled in their VAT returns, but must capture their PIN and a valid TIMS/eTIMS zero‑rated invoice number when lodging export documents in iCMS. Only transactions validated and linked to the taxpayer’s PIN and invoice will be accepted in VAT returns.
VatCalc · about 2 months ago
Kenya has temporarily reduced VAT on petrol and diesel from 16% to 13% for a three‑month period, effective 15 April to 14 July 2026. The measure, announced under Legal Notice No. 69, aims to ease inflationary pressure from rising global energy prices.
KPMG · 2 months ago
Kenyan KPMG commentary analyzes the Tax Appeals Tribunal decision that clarified the VAT treatment of insurance intermediaries. The Tribunal ruled that while insurance brokerage services remain exempt, asset management services are taxable at the standard 16% rate. The decision also highlights the High Court's 2021 ruling restoring the exemption and the appellant's unsuccessful deregistration attempt.
LinkedIn · 4 months ago
The Finance Bill 2026/27 will cut the input VAT for agricultural exporters from 16% to 8%, remove excise duty on packaging materials such as kraft paper, and scrap export promotion levies. It also allows faster offsetting of VAT refunds, offers special tax treatment for long‑standing 100% exporters, and rationalises regulatory levies to ease logistics costs. The bill is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in March 2026.
Key Takeaways
The VAT rate on fuel was reduced on 1 April 2026.
KRA lost Sh9.1 billion in fuel VAT revenue between April and May 2026.
The cut was introduced to cushion consumers from rising fuel costs.
Primary source
Read the full article at Eastleigh VoiceThis summary was published on VATfaqs.com on 6 June 2026. It relates to VAT developments in Kenya. The original source is Eastleigh Voice.
