Kenya: Ruto Mandates Automatic Tax Reliefs As He Signs Finance Bill 2025

How Ruto's new tax laws were quietly passed

Amendments seek to address fiscal deficit by broadening the tax base and compliance.While some proposals raise concerns, others offer relief to employees and employers.

Kenya: Ruto Mandates Automatic Tax Reliefs As He Signs Finance Bill 2025

Nairobi -- President William Ruto signed the Finance Bill 2025 into law on Thursday, ushering in a raft of tax amendments and fiscal reforms designed to streamline revenue collection, ease the cost of doing business, and bolster economic growth across key sectors.

Kenya’s 2025 Finance Bill keeps EVs VAT-free

Kenya’s Finance Bill 2025 has officially passed, keeping value-added tax (VAT) exemptions on electric motorcycles, bicycles, buses, and solar batteries. The tax relief applies especially to locally assembled vehicles and parts. The price drop first started in 2019, when excise duty fell from 20% to 10%. In 2023, VAT on local EVs and batteries was scrapped. And now, in 2025, the latest Finance Bill locks in zero VAT on electric motorcycles, bicyc…

Textile and Mitumba Imports Face New Taxes

President William Ruto assented to the Finance Bill 2025 on Thursday morning at State House, paving the way for the implementation of several provisions including new taxes on imported textiles and secondhand clothing (mitumba). This will be implemented through the deletion of paragraph (xxxi) of Part A and paragraph (xvii) of Part B of the Second Schedule to the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act. The change would subject goods under Chapters 54…

Finance Bill sails through parliament

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presents the bill

Finance Act 2025: William Ruto introduces automatic tax reliefs for employees