Kenya Withholding tax rates
Kenya Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The withholding taxes Kenya levies on payments to non-resident persons without a permanent establishment - dividends, interest, royalties and management/professional/training fees - each at its domestic statutory rate under the Income Tax Act (Cap 470) Third Schedule, before any double-tax agreement relief. Administered by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA); withholding tax on payments to non-residents is a final tax.
Compare withholding tax rates across all 34 African countries →
| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | KRA - Withholding Tax (rates table for non-resident persons): dividends 15%; interest (bank) 15%; interest on other bearer instruments 25%; royalties/natural resource income 20%; management fees 20%; professional fees 20%; training fees 20%; consultancy and agency 20%; contractual 20%. 'The payer of any of the above incomes is responsible for deducting tax at source from payments made and remitting the deducted tax to KRA.' |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Kenya rates each head of payment separately - and interest alone carries four different rates by instrument type. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. Kenya's double-tax agreements (UK, India, UAE, South Africa, France, Germany, Canada and others) can reduce these rates, and domestic exemptions exist - notably payments by Special Economic Zone entities to non-residents in their first ten years, and interest to financial institutions listed in the Fourth Schedule. We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. NO SERIES EFFECTIVE DATE IS ASSERTED: the KRA rate page states current rates without commencement dates, and we do not supply dates from memory. The legal basis is s.35 and Head B of the Third Schedule, Income Tax Act (Cap 470), as amended by successive Finance Acts. Rates verified against KRA's own table and cross-checked against PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (last reviewed 17 July 2026), which agree on every head served here. WHT on payments to non-residents is a FINAL tax. Kenya also withholds on non-resident rent (30% immovable property / 15% other than aircraft), entertainers (20%), insurance commissions (20%), telecommunication services (5%), digital content monetisation (20%) and gains from financial derivatives (15%) - outside the four heads served, see the KRA table.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/ke/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/ke/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/ke/withholding-taxOther Kenya series: CBK central bank rate · Statutory late-payment interest · VAT standard rate · Minimum wage (lowest general-order rate) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Personal income tax brackets · CBK indicative exchange rates (trade-weighted average) · Statutory payroll contributions (employee) · VAT registration threshold
The same figure elsewhere: Lesotho · Mali · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · all 34