The Kenya Bureau of Standards is demanding payments of a decades-old silent levy from small businesses, a move threatening to rattle hustlers reeling in the high cost of living.
Kebs has already written to an array of business owners including those running photocopy, tailoring and photography studios demanding that they pay the levy.
The Standards Levy (Amendment) Order 1999 requires each manufacturer to pay the Bureau a monthly levy.
The levy is recoverable at source at the rate of 0.2 percent of the ex-factory price of products manufactured in a month.
However, this excludes value-added tax and discounts.
Each manufactured product during any given month is subject to a standard levy of a maximum of Sh400,000 per annum and a minimum of Sh1,000 a month.
The tax payable through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) iTax system standards levy account on or before the 20th day of the succeeding month.
“A manufacturer is defined to include a person or persons who produce, process, treat, install, test or operate and use. Persons who manufacture or intend to manufacture are required to notify the Managing Director Kebs," Kebs notice reads in part.
The Kebs list of manufacturers includes
- Tailoring
- Printing
- publishing
- screen printing
- Photocopying
- Photographic studios
12 people killed, hundreds displaced as rains wreak havoc in Nairobi city