Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023

The Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning published the draft Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 in accordance with Section 45 of the Excise Duty Act. The Draft Regulations seek to amend the Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) Regulations 2017 (the “Principal Regulations”).

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary issued a public notice on 17^th January 2023 inviting members of the public and stakeholders to submit their inputs and comments on the Draft Regulations on or before 3^rd February 2023 with the proposed amendments set to commence on 1^st March 2023.

Some of the proposed amendments that will affect the manufacturing sector include:

1. Amendment to the list of excisable goods to be affixed with excise stamps: the Regulations propose to limit the scope of excisable goods required to be affixed with an excise stamp to goods that are listed in the First Schedule of the Principal Regulations. This proposal is geared towards aligning the law to the current practice where only some excisable goods are required to be affixed with stamps.
2. Increase in excise stamp fees for various goods: the regulations propose to increase excise stamp fees for various goods including Cosmetics from 60 cents per stamp to Ksh. 2.50; Fruit juice and non-alcoholic beverages such as sodas from 60 cents to Ksh.2.20; and Beer bottle from Ksh.1.50 to Ksh. 3.00;
3. Management of excise stamp revenue: the Regulations have proposed amendments to allow the KRA to utilize the revenue collected from the excise stamps to finance compliance management activities of the excise sector. Currently, the KRA can only use the revenue to maintain the Excisable Goods Management System.

The proposed amendments are geared towards increasing the amount of tax collected by KRA and aligning the Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) Regulations 2017 with the Excise Duty Act (No. 23 of 2015)