{"id":229211,"date":"2026-05-11T11:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/229211\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:23:13","slug":"ruto-signs-key-tax-investment-and-technology-bills-into-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/229211\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto signs key tax, investment and technology Bills into law"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nPresident William Ruto at a past presidential assent ceremony\/PCS<\/p>\n

President William Ruto on Monday assented to three key Bills
\naimed at reforming Kenya\u2019s tax regime, strengthening investor confidence and
\naccelerating the country\u2019s transition into a technology and innovation hub.<\/p>\n

The President signed into law the Income Tax (Amendments)
\nBill, the Special Economic Zones (Amendments) Bill and the Technopolis Bill
\nduring a ceremony held at State House, Nairobi.<\/p>\n

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, ICT Cabinet Secretary
\nWilliam Kabogo, Attorney General Dorcas Oduor, National Assembly Speaker Moses
\nWetang\u2019ula, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung\u2019wah and Minority
\nLeader Junet Mohamed attended the signing ceremony among other senior
\ngovernment officials.<\/p>\n

The latest assent marked the seventh presidential assent
\nceremony of 2026 and underscored the administration\u2019s push to implement
\nlegislative reforms geared towards economic growth, industrialisation and
\ndigital transformation.<\/p>\n

Speaking before the signing, Josphat Nanok, the Deputy Chief
\nof Staff in the Executive Office of the President, said the Income Tax
\n(Amendments) Bill seeks to streamline the administration of capital gains tax
\nand align Kenya\u2019s tax regime with international best practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amendments are intended to create a more efficient and
\npredictable tax environment while supporting business restructuring and
\ninvestment growth,\u201d Nanok said.<\/p>\n

The Income Tax (Amendments) Bill, 2026 introduces major
\nreforms targeting internal company reorganisations. Under the new law,
\ntransfers of property between a company and its shareholders during internal
\nrestructuring will be exempt from capital gains tax, provided the transfer
\nreflects the proportional shareholding of the parties involved.<\/p>\n

The reforms are expected to ease corporate restructuring
\nprocesses and reduce tax burdens on firms reorganising their operations.<\/p>\n

The proposed tax changes are expected to take effect in the
\n2026\/27 financial year beginning July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

The law also comes amid broader discussions within
\ngovernment on reforms to Pay As You Earn (PAYE), including proposals aimed at
\nexpanding tax exemptions for low-income earners.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the President signed the Special Economic
\nZones (Amendments) Bill, 2026, which seeks to modernise the Special Economic
\nZones framework and attract large-scale investments into the country.<\/p>\n

The amended law integrates upstream and midstream petroleum
\noperations into Special Economic Zones and introduces a guaranteed 10-year tax
\nincentive regime for developers, operators and enterprises licensed under the
\nprogramme.<\/p>\n

The law further introduces VAT zero-rating on certain
\nsupplies within Special Economic Zones and removes the previous 10-year cap on
\nwithholding tax exemptions for royalties and management fees under the Income
\nTax Act.<\/p>\n

Ruto also assented to the Technopolis Bill, 2024, which
\nestablishes a legal framework for the creation of a Technopolis and the
\nTechnopolis Development Authority as part of Kenya\u2019s Vision 2030 development
\nagenda.<\/p>\n

The legislation is expected to support the growth of
\ninnovation ecosystems and attract technology-driven enterprises into the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

The new law outlines the governance structure, licensing
\nprocedures and compliance mechanisms for the establishment and management of a
\nTechnopolis.<\/p>\n

It also revokes the earlier Konza Technopolis Development
\nAuthority Order and provides for a transition to the new authority structure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President William Ruto at a past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[116726,80,351,116724,65600,352,98,100,36736,353,116725,101,350,99,1346],"class_list":{"0":"post-229211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-income-tax-amendments-bill","9":"tag-kenya","10":"tag-kenya-news","11":"tag-national-assembly-bill","12":"tag-presidential-assent","13":"tag-star","14":"tag-star-news","15":"tag-star-news-kenya","16":"tag-star-newspaper","17":"tag-star-newspaper-kenya","18":"tag-technopolis-bill","19":"tag-the-star","20":"tag-the-star-kenya","21":"tag-the-star-newspaper","22":"tag-william-ruto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116555691183759056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}