Kenya Rolls Out New Generation Tax Stamps

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has rolled out a new generation of serialised tax stamps for excisable goods as part of its strategy to continuously review and improve the security features of the stamps.

The excisable products covered include alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, water, soft drinks juices and cosmetics. KRA informed key stakeholders in the excise goods industry of the rollout through a public notice published in November.

Kenyan law requires all excisable products manufactured in or imported into Kenya (with the exception of motor vehicles) be affixed with excise stamps.

The new generation stamps (which KRA calls ‘v4’) carry enhanced security features that can be verified with devices provided to enforcement officers. Members of the public can also verify the stamps using the Soma Label mobile phone app.

The rollout will be implemented in three phases with the first one targeting wine, spirits, ready-to-drink beverages, beer and other tobacco products. Water, soft drinks and juices will follow at the end of December, whereas tobacco products and keg beer will carry the new stamps from February 2022. A user guide on this is available on the KRA website.

The new stamps form part of KRA’s Excise Goods Management System, first introduced in 2013 and provided by SICPA. The system also includes remote automatic monitoring of domestic production lines.

The excise sector is critical to revenue mobilisation, accounting for 13% of total revenue collections by KRA. In the 2020/2021 financial year, KRA collected KES 220.97 billion ($1.95 billion) in domestic excise revenue. This corresponds to a growth of 12% compared to 2019/2020. 

This performance is particularly impressive given the general decrease in consumption experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and is mainly due to the recent extension of the EGMS system to soft drinks, juices, and mineral water, which are also subject to excise duties.