Tough times for small traders as the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) now targets small business owners in an effort to enforce a decade-old levy and collect more revenues.
Some of the small businesses that KEBS has been eyeing include tailoring, photocopy, and photography which have been categorized as manufacturers in this case.
According to the Amendment dated back in 1999 under the Standards Levy Order, all manufacturers are required to pay a standard monthly levy at the rate of 0.2% of the ex-factory price of products excluding the value-added tax and any discounts.
Read: KEBS Suspends 10 Cooking Oil Brands
Moreover, the regulation sets a maximum of Kshs 400,000 per annum and a minimum of Kshs 1,000 a month for every manufactured product payable through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) iTax system on or before the 20th day of the following month.
In fact, the taxman announced that the government has set in motion a real-time system to monitor the sale of goods under the exercise tax law including cigarettes, mobile airtime, beer, juice, and many others.
While KRA targets to collect Kshs 297.2 bn in revenues from excise duty by June 2023 under the orders of President Ruto, Kenyans, particularly the small business traders, are already decrying this move by KEBS owing to the high cost of living.
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