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Kenya’s Tax Tribunal delivers 23 appeals valued at Sh11Billion
The tribunal is the first judicial body responsible for hearing and determining appeals filed against any tax decision made by the KRA before any appeal can be made to the High Court. ... Prior to the Act, Kenya's tax dispute resolution process had been criticised mainly on the basis of a perceived lack of independence
The newly reconstituted Tax Appeals Tribunal (TAT) recently delivered 23 judgments with the revenue implication of Ksh.11, 057,345,522.00. The tax dispute judgments were delivered on 17th and 18th December 2019.
To date, the tribunal has heard 112 appeals, which are pending delivery of Judgments. The appeals entail disputed tax amounting to KShs.53, 646,034,677.00 whose judgments are expected to be delivered soon.
The tax appeals cover various economic sectors such as manufacturing, insurance, banking, construction, betting, agricultural, packaging and storage among others.
The appeals whose judgments were delivered were in relation to Withholding Income Tax, tax on winnings from lotteries and betting, Customs under-declaration on values of imports, Corporation Tax, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Excise Duty (domestic), VAT Refunds claims etc.
The judgment is a respite to both Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and taxpayers who have been eagerly waiting for the resolve of these disputes.
With this in trend, more taxpayers are expected to embrace and engage the tribunal as a key arbitrator of the first call and hence avoid lengthy and costly court litigation processes.
In the recent past the Judiciary has also adopted the principle of exhaustion by referring tax disputes to the Tax Appeals Tribunal for resolution in the first instance so that tax disputes find their way to the courts by way of appeal.