Kenya: Brewers of beer made from sorghum, cassava, and millet to benefit from excise duty reductions

Kenya’s manufacturers of beer made from sorghum, cassava, millet and any other agricultural product will soon benefit from excise duty reductions, KDR TV reported on May 10.

This was made possible after Treasury on May 8 published new regulations streamlining the Excise Duty Act with the Tax Procedures Act 2015, granting beer manufacturers an 80 per cent remission in excise duty.

The excise duty cutback, which was repealed in the Finance Act 2016, was previously contained in the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2015 (Section 68A) at the rate of 90 per cent, but has now been fully reintroduced, giving Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich powers to grant duty remission in the specified beer categories.

“Beer made from barley will, however, not benefit from the excise duty reductions,” read the regulations titled Excise Duty Regulations 2017 in part.

Treasury also moved to restructure the Excisable Goods Management System (EGMS) where all excisable goods, save for motor vehicles, would now be required to be affixed with excise stamps.

The regulations, unlike previously, clearly spell out various stamp fees for different categories of excisable goods.

The new rules stipulate offences whereby manufacturers who will be found with excise stamps without Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) authority or with counterfeit stamps, will be slapped with a Sh500,000 fine or a jail term of three years.

Mbiki Kamanjira, a tax expert with consultancy firm Grant Thornton said on May 9 the major difference between the old regulations of 2013 and the new ones is that the former did not require all excisable goods to be affixed with an excise stamp or provide for specific fees for different stamps.

“The new regulations now provide for clarity and harmony of the existing acts with amendments in the Finance Bill 2017. The changes in the EGMS will ensure a reduction in counterfeit products in the market, especially after the punitive measures that have been introduced by the finance CS,” explained Mr Kamanjira.

The measures are also likely to boost the agricultural sector, especially the production of millet, cassava and sorghum.

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