Recently, the number of taxation regimes for companies under the Kenya Income Tax Act (ITA) significantly increased. The main corporate tax changes include the introduction of the minimum tax and the digital services tax. The ITA already included regimes for withholding taxes, corporate income tax, capital gains tax, residential rental income tax, and a turnover tax, among others.
The newly introduced bases of taxation are in the form of a transaction tax or a turnover tax. This represents a shift from a tax based on income earned as was envisaged in the original ITA. In addition, Finance Act 2020 introduced an amnesty programme in the form of a Voluntary Tax Disclosure Programme (VTDP) for a period of three years effective January 1, 2021.
