Policy Note · Where your company is really taxed
A company is resident where its real management and control sit, whatever its certificate of incorporation says.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Analysis
Stories that begin with something visible and ask what larger system is quietly being revealed.
Policy Note · Lodging an objection so it counts
An objection must be supported, in time, and provably received, or it is no objection at all.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Policy Note · Who has to prove what in a tax dispute
The taxpayer must prove an assessment wrong; once it does, the authority must answer with specifics.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Policy Note · How far back the Commissioner can go
An assessment may be amended within five years of your return; reaching further needs proof of fraud or neglect.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Policy Note · Best-judgment assessments and the records that defeat them
Where your records are missing the Commissioner may estimate your tax; where they are complete it may not.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Policy Note · The 60-day objection clock
When the Commissioner lets a valid objection sit for 60 days, the law may decide it for you.
Tax and financial judgement · 10 Nov 2026 · 1 min read · Paid
Lecture 62 · Wadi Degla saved its PAYE with petty-cash vouchers, then paid withholding tax on interest it never sent.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: A Nairobi sports club beat most of a KSh 58 million demand by documenting its director's drawings, but lost on withholding tax, because interest merely credited in the books is paid for tax even when no money moves.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Paid
Lecture 61 · Mwanzi issued bonus shares from its own reserves and refused to call it a dividend.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA treated Mwanzi's bonus shares, issued out of retained earnings, as a deemed dividend and billed KSh 70 million. The tribunal held that a bonus issue moves nothing out of the company and creates no dividend, because nothing is to be read into a taxing statute.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Paid
Lecture 60 · Traneshvi met the banking test with its books, and a KSh 76 million demand collapsed.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA rebuilt Traneshvi's rental income from its bank deposits and billed KSh 76 million. The tribunal and the High Court held that where complete primary records exist the banking test cannot be used, and that money from selling flats and refundable deposits is not income.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Paid
Lecture 59 · Philip Kinisu met a KSh 133 million bank-deposit assessment with letters and loan papers, and cut it down.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: KRA treated every unexplained deposit in Philip Kinisu's accounts as income and billed him KSh 133 million. The tribunal removed the time-barred year, the foreign dividends, the taxed retirement savings and a repaid loan, leaving only what his records could not explain.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Paid
Lecture 58 · Del Monte settled a group loan in shares and kept a KSh 401 million exchange-loss deduction.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Del Monte held interest-free group loans in dollars and pounds for eight years, then cleared them by converting the debt into shares. The courts held that the realised foreign-exchange loss was deductible under section 4A whatever the method of settlement, and allowed the full KSh 401 million.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Paid
Lecture 57 · Che Lu dissolved itself to escape the tax, and the court brought it back to pay KSh262 million.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎: Che Lu applied to be struck off the register, published a gazette notice, and let the three months pass in silence to shed a KSh262 million tax debt. The High Court held that a gazette notice does not replace the duty to notify a known creditor, and restored the company to pay.
Tax and financial judgement · 9 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · Paid