Kenya

An individual is Kenya tax resident if they have a permanent home in Kenya and were present there for any period in the year, or lack a permanent home but were present 183 days or more in the year, or averaged more than 122 days present across the year and each of the two preceding years. 'Permanent home' means a place available to the individual for residential purposes in Kenya, or where their personal or economic interests are closest.

The year of income is the calendar year. Individual self-assessment returns are due by 30 June of the following year, with further tax payable by 30 April; taxpayers with a tax liability above KES 40,000 must also pay four instalment taxes through the year, on 20 April, June, September, and December.

Non-resident employees are taxable only on income earned from or derived within Kenya, rather than on worldwide income as for residents.

Employees can deduct mortgage interest on a home loan up to KES 360,000 a year, and contributions to the Social Health Insurance Fund, the Affordable Housing Levy, and a Kenya-registered retirement benefit scheme (capped at the lowest of actual contributions, 30% of pensionable income, or KES 360,000 a year). Certain expatriates employed by a regional office doing no business in Kenya may claim a further one-third deduction if absent from Kenya on business for at least 120 days a year.

Residential rental income tax is payable by default by resident landlords on gross rental income from residential property, at a flat 7.5% rate with no deductions allowed, for annual gross rent up to KES 15 million; landlords who wish to continue being taxed under the normal progressive rates instead may elect in writing to the Commissioner to do so.

VAT registration is required once a person's taxable supplies reach or are expected to reach KES 5 million in a 12-month period, though there is no registration threshold at all for non-residents supplying electronic services to Kenyan consumers via the internet or a digital marketplace. A person below the threshold may also register voluntarily.

Financial services are generally VAT-exempt, though the Finance Act 2026 narrowed this by excluding digital payment processing, settlement, merchant acquiring, and similar payment-intermediary services from the exemption, while core money-transfer services remain exempt. Goods and services supplied for use in public-private-partnership infrastructure projects are also exempt, as is the transfer of a business as a going concern.