KRA announces phased roll out of new generation excise stamps

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 10 – The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced a phased roll out of new generation of excise stamps for excisable goods in a bid to deter counterfeit goods from the market.

The excisable products covered in the first phase of the roll out include alcoholic beverages, tobacco and tobacco products, water, soft drinks and juices.

Under the second phase of the roll out, water, soft drinks and juices will have new stamps from December 28, whereas keg beer will be covered from February 1, 2022.

The introduction of the new excise stamps is in line with the provisions of the Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) Regulations, 2017.

The regulations require all excisable products manufactured in or imported to Kenya, with the exception of motor vehicles, be affixed with excise stamps.

The new generation stamps have enhanced security features leveraging on technology which are meant to deter counterfeiting.

The security features that can be verified using stamp verification tools provided to enforcement officers.

Members of the public can also verify the stamps using the Soma label mobile phone app available on Google Play Store or Apple Store.

The excise sector accounts for 6.6 per cent of ordinary revenue collections in VAT, excise and other taxes.

In the last financial year, KRA collected Sh62.409 billion of Domestic Excise Revenue against a target of Sh62.148billion, translating to a performance of 100.42 per cent.

KRA has identified various tax evasion schemes that have been utilized by some taxpayers in this sector which include: use of counterfeit excise stamps on excisable products, sale of excisable goods without stamps, sale of vatable goods without issuance of a proper tax invoice, manufacturing of excisable products without excise licenses and use of proxy companies to procure raw materials.