A woman placing a bet at a local casino. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL
A section of betting firms have complied with legal changes in
taxation of the multibillion-shilling sector and dropped the
20 percent excise duty charged on a punter’s stake.
20 percent excise duty charged on a punter’s stake.
Tuesday’s move
came as the tax measures contained in Finance Act of 2020 took effect
in what will now see punters only charged withholding tax on their
winnings.
Betting firm Betika in text messages to its
customers said that it had dropped the excise duty on a placed stake in
line with the move by Parliament that scrapped the tax last month in a
bid to woo gaming firms who exited last year.
“Betika has dropped the 20 percent excise duty on stakes,” the betting firm said in messages to punters Tuesday.
Parliament
scrapped the excise tax last month saying that it is meant to reverse
the negative effects of stringent measures that included closure of
firms including SportPesa and Betin.
Closure of the firms last year led to jobs losses for hundreds
of Kenyans and a revenue gap to the taxman who had annually collected
billions of shillings in taxes from the betting industry. The relief to
punters comes months after they unsuccessfully sought a nullification of
the tax through the court last December.
No comments :
Post a Comment