Starting in January 2027,
It is KRA that shall FIRST calculate for you, what income it believes you & your business earned in 2026,
And what income tax you shall therefore pay.
KRA will do this by generating a pre populated income tax return using the information it already has, such as:
- eTIMS data
- PAYE records
- Withholding tax records
- Plus any other information KRA can find
KRA shall then send you this pre filled return by 31st January 2027.
Once you receive it, you have 60 days (February and March), and 2 OPTIONS only. To either:
1. Confirm & accept KRA generated return, if the numbers are correct. Or,
2. Reject & amend KRA generatd return, if KRA got the numbers wrong. If you take this route, you shall provide your own numbers together with supporting documents to KRA.
- If you make your amendments late. Or,
- You do not make any amendments at all,
KRA shall congratulate you conclude that you have agreed with its originally generated assessment, and you shall pay the KRA generated tax bill.
After that, you shall use the amended or originally accepted return to file your taxes as follows:
- If you are a human being, file by April 30th 2027.
- If you have no flesh & blood (company, partnership, trust, etc), file by June 30th.
(Or the last day of the sixth month after your accounting year ends.)
One more critical mistake to watch.
- When that time comes, do not assume KRA's numbers are always correct. The law has expressly given you the right to accept or reject the pre-populated return before filing.
Lessons:
• Proper bookkeeping is King in 2026.
• Mark the new tax timelines in your calendar.
This is a new thing in Kenya, so reread slowly.
How soon (or later) you create wealth 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 on factors that include:
-𝑰𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉: increase in salary or new income streams.
-𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔: performance of investments like stocks, fixed income, or businesses.
-𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒔: managing spending and saving habits.
-𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆: balancing risk and potential returns.
Great NSE stocks that should anchor your equities portfolio:
$KCB: Good payout yields driven by booming asset management growth
$STANBIC: Powered by a reliable corporate banking and wealth engine
$KPLC: Strong energy exposure coupled with serious cash-generating power
$SCBK: solid payout history backed by top-tier returns
$SCOM: High liquidity paired with a strong track record of rewarding shareholders
Before buying a car, calculate total running costs rather than focusing only on the sticker price or monthly loan installment.
Comprehensive insurance, routine servicing, replacement tires, parking, and daily fuel consumption will consume cash every single month. If vehicle expenses swallow a large slice of your income, the car becomes a burden instead of a convenience.
A business can fail after you have invested money, borrowed confidence from your family and told everyone it will work. A job interview can end in silence. A customer can promise payment and disappear. Those moments are not motivational quotes. They hurt. Sometimes you need a whole night just to accept the loss.
When you can think clearly again, examine what happened. Was the price wrong? Did you trust the wrong person? Did you enter without enough cash? Did you ignore what customers were saying? Write the lesson down and change something concrete. Pain does not automatically make anyone wiser. Reflection followed by different action does.
A strong financial foundation is not about how much you earn. It is about how well your money can support your life when things do not go according to plan.
Know where your money goes, keep your spending within what you can sustainably afford, build an emergency fund, manage expensive debt, protect yourself against major financial risks and consistently set money aside for your future.
If I had KES 100,000 to start investing on the NSE today, I wouldn’t put it all in one stock.
I’d split it into 3 buckets, each with a different job.
Here’s how, with real numbers from current prices 🧵
One of the most misleading things in business is a busy sales account. Orders are coming in. Customers are paying. Money is moving through your account, and from the outside, everything looks good.
But after paying suppliers, rent, salaries, transport, taxes, and other expenses, how much is actually left?
Revenue tells you how much business you are doing. Profit tells you whether that business is rewarding you financially. Cash flow tells you whether you can meet your obligations when they fall due.
As your business grows, learn to pay attention to all three. You can have impressive sales figures and still struggle to pay your suppliers. Growth is good but profitable, well-managed growth is better.
If your father left you an inheritance, he was a good man.
That is what the old holy Bible says in Prov.13.22
- A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children.
But if you decide to sell that land and deprive your children's children of their inheritance,
At least do the maths first.
Otherwise, KRA shall slap you with an astronomical Capital Gains Tax bill.
Here is why.
- If you sell it within 5 years of inheriting the property, KRA uses your parent's original purchase price as your cost.
Example
Your father bought the land in 2002 for Sh1M. You inherited it in 2020 and sold it in 2023 for 10M.
Your capital gain is: 10M − 1M = 9M.
Your CGT is: 9M × 15% = 1.35M.
- But if you sell after 5 years, the cost resets to the market price at the time you inherited.
Example
You inherited the land in 2020 when its market value was 8M.
You sell it in 2026 for 10M.
Your capital gain is: 10M − 8M = 2M.
Your CGT is: 2M × 15% = 300,000.
That's a difference of Sh1.05M!
Brought about by a lack of patience.
10 Brutal Truths About Entrepreneurship:
1. Sales are vanity & cash flow is survival. You can have customers and still go broke if money comes in too slowly and bills are due today.
2. Your friends are not your market. People can love you, encourage you and still never buy what you sell.
3. A good product does not sell itself. If people don't know you exist, your brilliance will remain a well-kept secret.
4. Being busy is not the same as being profitable. You can work 16 hours a day and still run a business that is going nowhere.
5. Your first customer is not proof of product-market fit. Getting someone to buy once is different from building something people consistently need.
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