The Kenya Revenue Authority has opened a new tax amnesty window, giving taxpayers until the end of the year to clear old debts without paying a shilling in interest or penalties.
The programme, re-introduced under the Finance Act 2026, took effect on 1 July 2026 and runs through 31 December 2026. It waives 100% of penalties, interest, and fines on tax debts accrued up to 31 December 2025. KRA says the initiative builds on two earlier amnesty cycles that recovered Kshs 80.9 billion in principal tax payments while bringing thousands of taxpayers back into compliance.
Who Qualifies Automatically
Two groups of taxpayers get the waiver without lifting a finger.
If you cleared your principal tax in full by 31 December 2025, KRA grants you an automatic waiver on any outstanding interest and penalties. No application, no paperwork.
If you owe no principal tax but are sitting on late filing penalties, you also qualify automatically, on one condition: every outstanding return must be filed first. File the returns, and the penalty waiver follows without you needing to apply for it separately.
How to Settle If You Still Owe Principal Tax
For taxpayers who still owe principal tax from before 2026, KRA offers two paths.
Pay the full outstanding principal in one lump sum, and the corresponding penalties and interest disappear immediately. This is the fastest route to a clean slate.
Can’t pay it all at once? Apply for a structured payment plan through the KRA iTax portal. The catch is timing, not flexibility: every shilling of principal tax under the plan must be cleared by 31 December 2026 for the waiver to hold. Miss that deadline and the interest and penalties come back into play.
What the Amnesty Does Not Cover
The programme draws a hard line at two points.
Any tax liability arising on or after 1 January 2026 falls outside the amnesty entirely. Principal tax, penalties, and interest on those debts remain fully due, regardless of what you owe from earlier years.
Taxpayers currently in active litigation over disputed principal amounts also fall outside the automatic waiver. KRA is directing them instead toward its Alternative Dispute Resolution framework, where settling the disputed principal can still unlock the amnesty benefits on the interest and penalties tied to it.
What This Means for Taxpayers
KRA frames the amnesty as part of a wider push toward voluntary compliance, and the numbers from the last two rounds suggest the approach works: over Kshs 80 billion in principal recovered is not a small return for what is essentially a debt forgiveness offer with a deadline attached.
For anyone carrying old tax debt, the incentive is straightforward. Clear the principal, and KRA wipes out everything else stacked on top of it, interest that may have compounded for years, and penalties that often exceed the original tax bill. The Authority is urging taxpayers to log into iTax early rather than wait for the December rush, when portal traffic and processing times typically climb as the deadline approaches.
Six months might sound generous, but for anyone with a payment plan to set up or old records to reconcile, it moves quickly. The earlier you start, the more room you have to fix errors, gather documentation, or work out a structured plan before the window closes for good.
