Types of Taxes on the KRA Portal (iTax) — Kenya 2026 Guide

If you log into the KRA iTax portal in 2026, you will see a long list of tax obligations attached to your PIN. The most common ones are VAT (16%), Corporation Tax (30% for residents, 37.5% for non-residents), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Withholding Tax (WHT), Excise Duty (administered through eTIMS), Turnover Tax (TOT at 1.5% for businesses with revenue between KES 1M and KES 25M), Rental Income Tax, Monthly Rental Income (MRI), Capital Gains Tax (CGT at 15%), Digital Service Tax, and statutory deductions like SHIF, NSSF Tier I & II, Affordable Housing Levy (1.5%) and the Hustler Fund repayment.

That is the quick answer for anyone who searched the question. But if you are a business owner, finance lead, accountant or fintech building for Kenyan SMEs, the more interesting question is: how do you stay on top of all of these without missing a deadline, a penalty or a customer payment? That is what the rest of this guide is for.

For Kenyan Operators: Why KRA Compliance Is a Customer Communications Problem

Most Kenyan SMEs do not lose money to tax rates. They lose money to missed reminders — an unfiled PAYE return that triggers a KES 10,000 penalty, an eTIMS invoice not raised that disqualifies an expense, a customer who delays a payment because nobody sent them a reminder before the 20th of the month. According to the Kenya Revenue Authority, compliance penalties are one of the largest revenue lines after the core taxes themselves.

If your business serves other businesses — accountants, payroll bureaus, fintechs, B2B SaaS, or any company that invoices monthly — every KRA deadline is a customer touchpoint. Each one is an opportunity to ping your client on SMS or WhatsApp, attach an eTIMS invoice, request payment confirmation, or upsell a related service. The operators winning in 2026 are those who turned the KRA calendar into an automated communication calendar.

The Full 2026 KRA iTax Tax Menu, Translated for Operators

1. Value Added Tax (VAT) — 16%

Applies to any business with annual taxable supplies above KES 5 million. Filed monthly, due by the 20th of the following month. From January 2024, expenses must be supported by an eTIMS-generated invoice to be deductible. For B2B operators this means your customer-facing eTIMS receipt is also their tax shield — a powerful reason to send it instantly via SMS or WhatsApp the moment payment clears.

2. Corporation Tax

Resident companies pay 30% of taxable profits; branches of foreign companies pay 37.5%. Instalment tax is due in four equal quarterly payments (20th of the 4th, 6th, 9th and 12th months of the accounting period). Balance is due by the end of the 4th month after year-end. Late filing attracts the higher of KES 20,000 or 5% of the tax due.

3. Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

Withheld from employee salaries on a graduated scale topping out at 35% for incomes above KES 800,000/month. Due by the 9th of the following month. PAYE filing also packages SHIF (2.75%), NSSF Tier I and II contributions, and the Affordable Housing Levy (1.5%). Get one of these wrong and your whole payroll return bounces.

4. Withholding Tax (WHT)

Deducted at source on professional fees, royalties, rent, management fees, dividends and interest. Rates range from 3% to 25% depending on the service and whether the recipient is resident. Due by the 20th of the following month.

5. Excise Duty & eTIMS

Covers airtime, data, alcohol, tobacco, sugary drinks, betting stakes, mobile money transfers and a growing list of digital services. eTIMS (electronic Tax Invoice Management System) is now mandatory for every VAT-registered taxpayer, and eTIMS Lite (introduced in 2024) extends the obligation to non-VAT-registered taxpayers who supply VAT-registered businesses.

6. Turnover Tax (TOT) — 1.5%

For micro and small businesses with gross turnover between KES 1 million and KES 25 million per year. Filed monthly. This is the simplest regime for most Hustler-Fund-eligible SMEs.

7. Monthly Rental Income Tax (MRI)

Charged at 7.5% on gross rental income from residential property where total income is below KES 15 million. Filed monthly.

8. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — 15%

Applies to the transfer of property, including land, buildings and unquoted shares.

9. Digital Service Tax & Significant Economic Presence (SEP) Tax

Targets income derived from the Kenyan digital marketplace by non-resident providers. SEP tax replaced DST for non-residents at 3% of gross turnover from 2025.

10. Statutory Deductions Visible on iTax

Although strictly administered by separate agencies, SHIF (replacing NHIF since October 2024), NSSF, the Affordable Housing Levy and the Hustler Fund repayment all show up as obligations linked to your KRA PIN through iTax integrations. Loan deductions from the Hustler Fund are typically auto-recovered from M-Pesa wallets — your customers expect SMS confirmation each time.

Penalty Math: Why Reminders Pay for Themselves

According to KRA tax compliance guides, late VAT filing carries the higher of KES 10,000 or 5% of tax due, late PAYE filing attracts 25% of the tax due or KES 10,000, and interest on unpaid tax accrues at 1% per month. A single missed reminder can cost an SME the equivalent of a full month of working capital. Multiply that across a portfolio of 500 clients and an accountancy practice is hemorrhaging margin to avoidable penalties — purely because nobody automated the nudge.

The Operator's Playbook: Turning iTax into a Communication Workflow

The accountants, bookkeepers and fintechs winning new logos in 2026 are bundling three things:

• Automated SMS reminders seven days, three days and twenty-four hours before every KRA, SHIF, NSSF, AHL and Hustler Fund deadline.
• WhatsApp document delivery for the actual eTIMS invoice, PAYE certificate, P9 form or M-Pesa receipt — clients open WhatsApp within minutes, not days.
• Voice escalations for high-value clients who have not acknowledged the reminder by T-24 hours. A 30-second call from a soft PBX queue closes the loop.

This is the exact stack HelloDuty provides through its CPaaS platform: programmable SMS API, WhatsApp Business API, USSD self-service menus and cloud PBX voice — all wired into one workflow engine. Equity Bank, Tala and other Kenyan fintechs already run customer-facing tax and loan reminders this way; the same playbook is available to a five-person accountancy practice in Westlands.

How HelloDuty Fits Your Tax-Compliance Stack

A typical HelloDuty deployment for an accountant or fintech looks like this:

1. SMS API connects to your bookkeeping software (QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Xero or a custom ledger) and fires templated reminders branded with a registered Sender ID.
2. WhatsApp Business API sends approved templates with the actual eTIMS PDF, PAYE summary or invoice attachment.
3. USSD shortcode lets non-smartphone clients dial in to check balance, request a callback or confirm receipt — critical in rural counties where data is patchy.
4. Cloud PBX & predictive dialer handle the human escalations, with calls logged back to the same client record for an audit trail.
5. AI receptionist answers inbound questions like "What is my PAYE for May?" using your data, with handover to a human when the question gets complex.

The result: an accountancy practice can scale from 50 clients to 500 without adding headcount, and a fintech can collect repayments with double-digit improvements in on-time rate.

FAQ: KRA iTax Taxes for Kenyan SMEs

How do I check which taxes I am registered for on iTax?

Log in to itax.kra.go.ke with your KRA PIN, go to Registration > Amend PIN Details and the obligations attached to your PIN are listed under tax obligations. You can add or deactivate obligations from the same screen.

Do I need eTIMS if I am not VAT registered?

Yes — as of 2024, eTIMS Lite extends the obligation to non-VAT-registered taxpayers who supply VAT-registered businesses, so your customer can still claim the expense. If you sell exclusively to consumers it is optional but recommended.

What happens if I miss the 20th VAT deadline?

You incur the higher of KES 10,000 or 5% of the tax due, plus 1% interest per month on the unpaid amount. Automating SMS reminders three days before the deadline is the cheapest insurance policy a Kenyan SME can buy.

Is the Hustler Fund a tax?

Technically no — it is a credit facility. But repayments are auto-deducted from your M-Pesa wallet and a 5% saving component is held by KCB and the Co-operative Bank on your behalf. Most borrowers expect a clear SMS each time money moves.

Can I file all KRA returns from one dashboard?

iTax is the single filing portal for all KRA obligations. Payroll-related statutory deductions (SHIF, NSSF, AHL) are filed on their own portals but pulled into the same compliance calendar that bookkeeping software syncs with iTax.

Stop Bleeding Money to KRA Penalties

Every missed deadline is a customer relationship at risk and a margin point lost. HelloDuty gives Kenyan accountants, fintechs and SMEs the SMS, WhatsApp and voice infrastructure to turn the iTax calendar into an automated, branded communication workflow. Book a 20-minute demo and see how your next VAT deadline can run itself.