KRA loses bid to collect tax on betting stakes

The Kenya Revenue Authority has lost its bid to collect taxes on stakes placed by gamers after a tribunal ruled that a punter’s stake in a bet cannot be charged the 20% tax on winnings.

The tax appeals tribunal sitting in Nairobi ruled that the 20%  tax should be charged on the positive difference between the payout made and stakes-placed in a given month.

The tribunal’s verdict now looks set to tilt the balance in favor of more than 20 betting firms— including Sportpesa and Betin Kenya—which have been denied operating licenses for the year starting July.

KRA has been demanding 61 billion shillings from the betting firms for the period between May 2014 and March 2019.

At the same time, the KRA has won two cases at the high court in Nairobi against the Kenya Postel directories that will see the taxman recover nearly 841 million shillings in taxes from the company.

The KRA has also won a court case against one Stanley Mombo Amuti seeking to quash the decision of the authority to close and freeze his accounts in the enforcement of assessed taxes amounting to 50 point 6 million shillings.

The verdicts of the three cases come days after President Uhuru Kenyatta challenged the judiciary to speed the hearing and determination of tax disputes before it.