Lecture 69 ยท A mall's service charge was taxed as income, and after five years the tribunal held it was money held for others.
๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐: KRA taxed Nextgen Mall's service-charge collections as income and VAT, a KSh 120 million bill. After three tribunals and the High Court, it was held that contributions held for members are not income, and a wrong book entry cannot create one.
Illustration: Precursor
Your company collects a service charge from the owners of shops in a mall and spends it on the common areas, keeping no profit and serving no outsider. The tax authority treats every shilling collected as your income and your taxable supply, and bills you millions.
Put yourself in the manager's chair. When you collect money that belongs to the owners and spend it on their behalf, is it your income at all?
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Precursor is published by the FinTech Association of Kenya and exercises independent editorial judgement under the Editorial Independence Charter. This article is labelled Precursor Executive Classroom, which marks commercial material. Knowledge on Tax and financial judgement.
Lecture 126 ยท A director kept meeting the taxman instead of appealing, and four years on the bill had only grown.
๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐: 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 ยท 4 min read ยท Paid
Lecture 125 ยท A rice importer called cleaning and repacking manufacturing, and the court said packaging is not making.
๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐: 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.
Tax and financial judgement ยท 4 min read ยท Paid
Lecture 124 ยท A contractor said the money was his clients', had no agreements to show it, and the assessment stood.
๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐: 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 ยท 4 min read ยท Paid