Kenya hits used car imports with more taxes, buyers to pay more
GRAPHIC | CHRISPUS BARGORETT | NMG
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has hit used car importers with a fresh round of tax increments after capping the maximum depreciation rate at 65 percent of the value of the vehicle from 70 percent previously.
Pamela Ahago, the acting commissioner for the Customs and Border Control department, instructed the KRA staff to apply a new depreciation rate schedule for cars effective Friday.
The directive will see taxes rise by more than 14 percent for vehicles manufactured in 2016 -- largely imported by dealers currently because of Kenya’s eight-year age limit for used cars.
Lowering the maximum depreciation rate, which the taxman says is in line with other countries in the seven-nation East African Community trading bloc, will raise the value applied when calculating import duty.
