Dutch flower firm operating in Kenya, Van Den Berg Limited, has lost a case against the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) after the High Court ordered it to pay KSh1.3 billion in taxes.
The order comes after the High Court dismissed a judicial review application filed by the company in April 2016, seeking to revoke a tax assessment issued by the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes.
KRA selected the firm for a tax audit for the tax period 2008 to 2013. On conclusion of the audit, the Authority issued a Notice of Assessment of KSh1.3 billion in respect of Van Den’s Corporation tax, Withholding Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and KEBS Levy.
Thereafter, Van Den filed a case challenging the assessment and objected to the decision by the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes.
However, in its online ruling made on 29th May, the High Court agreed with KRA’s position and ruled that the issues before it were not of a judicial review nature, but should instead be solved before the Tax Appeals Tribunal, striking out the case and awarding costs to KRA.
Van den Berg is a rose-grower with nurseries in the Netherlands, Kenya, and China. The dutch firm also has a processing facility at Floraholland Naaldwijk used to add value to the Dutch and Kenyan flowers.
The flower industry is among Kenya’s largest foreign exchange-earners. Kenya is the world’s 4th largest flower exporter. It has created jobs for close to 150,000 people. In 2018 alone, cut flowers earned the country KSh113 billion.
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