On 01 September 2022, the Commissioner General (the Commissioner) of the Kenya Revenue Authority (the KRA) published a notice informing the public of the impending inflation adjustment of the specific excise duty rates as currently provided for under the Excise Duty Act, 2015.
Pursuant to the notice, the excise duty rate on the specified items is proposed to be adjusted using the average inflation rate for the financial year 2021/2022 of 6.3% effective 01 October 2022. Some of the goods whose excise duty rate is proposed to be reviewed upwards include motorcycles of tariffs no. 87.11(other than motorcycle ambulances and locally assembled motorcycles), imported ready-to-use SIM cards, motor spirit, various residual fuel oils and fruit and vegetable juices. Please see the full list here.
The notice provides that members of the public and stakeholders have until 16 September 2022 to submit their views on the proposed inflation adjustments. This provides a window for the persons affected by the proposed adjustments to make submissions to request the Commissioner to reverse the proposed increase in the rates. This is in line with the provisions of the Excise Duty Act that empower the Commissioner, by notice in the Gazette and with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury (the CS), to exempt specified products from inflation adjustment after considering the circumstances prevailing in the economy in a year in respect of such products.
