Lecture 125 Β· A rice importer called cleaning and repacking manufacturing, and the court said packaging is not making.
π»ππ πͺπππ πΉπππ: Mjengo claimed an investment deduction on KSh 1.5 million of machinery that cleaned and repackaged imported rice, calling it manufacturing. Through three forums the ruling held that packaging alone is not making goods, the rice remained rice, and a definition framed with 'means' is exhaustive. The deduction was refused.

Illustration: Precursor
You buy a machine to clean, sort, fumigate, brand and package the rice you import, and you claim an investment deduction on it, confident that what you do is manufacturing. The authority visits, sees imported rice going in and the same rice, in smaller sacks, coming out, and disallows the deduction, telling you that you are a packager, not a manufacturer.
Put yourself in the importer's chair. When your machine only cleans and repacks imported rice, are you a manufacturer, or merely a packager?
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Lecture 126 Β· A director kept meeting the taxman instead of appealing, and four years on the bill had only grown.
π»ππ πͺπππ πΉπππ: KRA confirmed a KSh 899,328 income-tax bill against Saphira, and its director spent four years in meetings and relied on his compliance certificates instead of appealing. The tribunal held meetings do not stop the thirty-day clock, a certificate is not proof of payment, and refused leave to appeal out of time; the debt had grown to KSh 1.4 million.
Tax and financial judgement Β· 4 min read Β· Paid
Lecture 124 Β· A contractor said the money was his clients', had no agreements to show it, and the assessment stood.
π»ππ πͺπππ πΉπππ: KRA billed MU-BEI KSh 1.7 million after its eTIMS invoices far exceeded its declared sales. The company said the money was clients' funds for materials, passed on as an agent, but had no written agency agreements and no reconciliation. The tribunal held VAT fell due on the invoices and dismissed the appeal.
Tax and financial judgement Β· 4 min read Β· Paid
Lecture 123 Β· An employer filed withholding tax on a casual supervisor as if he were a contractor, and billed him millions.
π»ππ πͺπππ πΉπππ: KRA billed a casual site supervisor KSh 5 million after his employer used his PIN to declare withholding tax as though he were a contractor. His objection was late and struck out, but the tribunal, finding the employer had admitted the error, ordered the taxman to hear the matter afresh on its merits.
Tax and financial judgement Β· 4 min read Β· Paid