Stories that begin with something visible and ask what larger system is quietly being revealed.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Stephen Osiro had a county salary and many side hustles, rent, farming, shares and interest, that he never declared. KRA taxed his bank deposits and billed him KSh 71 million. With no records and two unfiled years, the tribunal held the burden was his and dismissed the appeal.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Virgin Estate's deductions were real, but the bank held the proof until six months after KRA's decision. The tribunal held it could only weigh evidence that was before the Commissioner at the objection stage, so the late documents could not save it, though the five-year limit struck the oldest years.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA taxed Doshi's bank deposits as income, a KSh 88 million bill. Through a tribunal, the High Court and back again, Doshi won on the COVID tax rate and its proven forex losses, but lost on every figure it could not tie to a clear, indexed reconciliation.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Letshego made only exempt loans and filed nil VAT, but it carried a dormant VAT registration inherited from 2004. Because it was still a registered person, the courts held it owed reverse VAT on its imported services, and a registration it never cancelled cost it KSh 93 million.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Ladybird's accountant filled its system with fake invoices, and KRA billed the company KSh 120 million on the phantom sales. Ladybird had a real defence that it was the victim, but it filed its appeal beyond the thirty-day limit, and the tribunal struck it out without reaching the fraud.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Nakumatt paid a technology firm a shilling on every loyalty point it ran, and treated it as a loss on a sale of points. The courts read the contract, found a firm managing the whole scheme, and held the shilling was a management fee subject to withholding tax, a KSh 128 million bill.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA demanded withholding tax on fees McKinsey Kenya paid to its South African affiliate. McKinsey pointed to the double-tax treaty: professional fees are business profits, and with no permanent establishment here only South Africa could tax them. The High Court dismissed KRA's appeal.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Brookhouse let teachers' children attend at a discount, taxed lightly on a 2006 KRA letter. When an audit recast the discount as a benefit from employment, the High Court held it was taxable pay at full value and that the old letter did not bind the taxman, leaving a KSh 187 million bill.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Cellnet sold Safaricom airtime on a KRA ruling that the commissions were VAT-exempt, then faced a KSh 245 million demand when KRA changed its mind. The High Court held the exemption was in the statute's plain words and the old ruling still bound the taxman, though unseparated M-PESA income was taxable.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Che Lu Construction dissolved itself by a Gazette notice, hoping a KSh 262 million tax debt would vanish with it. The High Court held it should have notified KRA directly as a creditor, restored the company to the register, and held the debt and the directors still answerable.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA raised a best-judgment assessment of KSh 326 million on Haque & Sons for vehicle costs it could not support. The company insisted the documents existed and its accountant held them, but it produced none, and the tribunal held that saying so is not proof.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Eastleigh Mall filed a valid objection to a KSh 387 million assessment and waited nearly two years for a reply. The High Court held that the law's sixty-day deadline is a command, that the objection was deemed allowed on day sixty, and that the late decision was worthless.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid