High Court Rules that VAT Regulations 2017 are valid

NAIROBI, Kenya July 18 – KRA is set to continue with the implementation of the VAT Regulations 2017 after the High Court confirmed that the said regulations are valid as they were indeed tabled before the National Assembly on May 10 2017.

The taxman had moved to Court seeking review of the Judgement delivered on January 31 2022 that had made a finding that the Value Added Tax Regulations, 2017 ceased to have any effect immediately on the eighth day after the said Regulations were not tabled before the National Assembly.

In agreeing with the KRA submissions, Justice David Majanja in a ruling delivered on July 14 2022 ruled as follows;

“Further, from the evidence produced by the Commissioner, the VAT Regulations, 2017 were indeed tabled before the National Assembly. They are therefore valid and there is no basis to hold that the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013 was not complied with.”

The decision means that KRA can now deny taxpayers a refund based on the regulation. It will also have an impact on monthly VAT compliance.