Kenyan tax periods before 2026 in Achekam

Why Achekam refuses to compute many Kenyan tax periods before 2026, which taxes have earlier researched start dates, and how to handle older years.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya

You open Achekam to work out a Kenyan tax for a period in 2025, perhaps to check an old VAT figure or redo a withholding tax schedule, and Achekam refuses. It is not broken. It is telling you, deliberately, that it has no rule it trusts for those dates.

Kenyan tax law did not begin in 2026, of course. But software that computes tax needs to know which rate and which rule applied on each date, and where the research behind Achekam's Kenya pack could not establish when a rule took effect, Achekam chose to start it on a date it could stand behind rather than guess backwards. This article explains that choice, the taxes that are exceptions, and how to deal with older periods in the meantime.

Rules start on 1 January 2026 unless a date was researched

In Achekam, Kenyan rules whose start date the research did not find begin on 1 January 2026. Earlier Kenyan periods for those rules are refused rather than computed.

The reasoning is simple. Kenyan rates and reliefs change with each Finance Act, and the date a change took effect matters as much as the new figure. Applying a 2026 rule to a 2024 period would produce a confident-looking number that might be wrong. A refusal is less convenient, but it is honest: it tells you that this period needs working out from the law as it stood then.

The taxes with earlier start dates

For some taxes, the research did establish when the current rule began, and Achekam uses those dates instead:

For these, a period from the start date onwards can be handled, subject to approval (see below). Turnover tax is the one most small businesses will meet. It applies to resident businesses with gross turnover above KES 1 million and not above KES 25 million, and KRA gives the rate as 1.5% of gross sales; confirm the current rate on KRA's own turnover tax page before relying on it. Small businesses weighing turnover tax against the ordinary regime will find more in turnover tax for small Kenyan businesses.

Periods that start before 2026

Companies in Kenya use their own 12-month financial year, so many company years that are still open today began in 2025. A company with a July year began its current year on 1 July 2025; one with an April year began on 1 April 2025. Those years end in 2026, but they started before the date from which most of Achekam's Kenyan rules run.

Test a year like that early, ideally in the first months of the year rather than when the return is due. If Achekam refuses it, the reason is the one above: it holds no rule for the 2025 part of the period. Monthly taxes are simpler: a VAT month or a withholding tax month falls wholly on one side of 1 January 2026 or the other, so only the older months are affected. Do not try to work round the refusal by changing the period dates in Achekam. Work the year with your accountant from the law that applied, and note why. How a company's own year sits beside the other Kenyan tax years is explained in Kenyan tax years for companies, staff and government.

Nothing is computed until a rule is approved

Even for 2026 periods, Achekam computes nothing until its rules are approved. Every Nigerian and Kenyan tax figure in Achekam's rule book was seeded "under review", and Achekam computes nothing from a figure until an Achekam platform administrator approves it. No user at your business can change a rate.

Once its rules are approved, Achekam computes Kenyan corporation tax, instalment tax, VAT, withholding tax, turnover tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty. So there are two separate reasons a computation may be unavailable: the period is before the rule's start date, or the rule has not yet been approved. Work out which of the two applies before you go further.

Working older periods outside Achekam

For a period Achekam will not compute, the work goes back to basics:

1. Ask your accountant which law, rates and reliefs applied for each part of the period.
2. Prepare the computation in a workpaper outside Achekam, with each rate's source noted.
3. Have someone other than the preparer review it.
4. File or amend the return on iTax.
5. Record the filing and the payment in Achekam where the period allows, with the acknowledgement and the PRN.

KRA's answers on filing returns on iTax cover the downloadable return forms, carrying forward VAT credits, credit notes, suppliers without PINs and amended returns, which is the part you are most likely to need for an older year.

Keeping the old year's workings

An older period worked outside Achekam needs its own paper trail, because Achekam's records will not show how the figures were reached. Keep together:

• the computation, with the rates used and where each came from;
• the reviewer's notes and sign-off;
• the return as filed and the iTax acknowledgement;
• the payment slip, PRN and receipt;
• any correspondence with KRA about the period.

Label the file clearly with the period and the words "worked outside Achekam", so that whoever picks it up later does not go looking for a computation that was never made there.

Nigeria has the same kind of boundary, set by its new tax Acts; see Nigerian tax periods before 2026. In both countries, the boundary is a prompt to slow down for older years, not a gap to paper over.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.