As we enter the year ahead, we remain firmly aligned with your business objectives, to continue to deliver unrivaled technical acumen in managing each and every one of your mandates across tax and business law, and with the same value proposition of Integrated Tax and legal Excellence, through our two integrated professional services arms.
Tag Archives: TAX LAWYERS KENYA
MRT Tax 2025 Year in Review: The Market and Key Tax Trends
As we draw the curtains on 2025, we reflect on a year defined by transformative shifts in the tax landscape, from local, regional and international standpoints.
2025 has also been a defining one for our firm across advisory, tax controversy, transactions practices, and we are grateful to our clients for the confidence placed in us through the sensitive and high‑stakes mandates we received, as you sought our guidance to help you navigate tax complexity with confidence.
We extend an equal amount of gratitude to our peers and collaborators–locally, regionally, and internationally.
A Year of Excellence, Collaboration, and Global Recognition
Our journey this year has been marked by significant milestones that reinforce MRT Tax’s position as a leading tax firm in Uganda.
Recognition and Rankings:
MRT Tax received nomination for the prestigious Tax Firm of the Year Award – Uganda at the ITR EMEA Tax Awards 2025 and was subsequently recognised in the ITR World Tax 2026 rankings as a Notable leading tax practice in Uganda.
The Founding Managing Partner, Mark Ruhindi received Individual Recognition as a Highly Regarded Practitioner-General Corporate Tax.
Strategic Alliances:
We entered into strategic collaborations with The Cragus Group, one of the GCC’s leading independent tax and transfer pricing firms, and Tax Consulting South Africa (TCSA), a market leader in taxation in South Africa.
These relationships significantly enhanced our ability to advise our clients in international trade on cross‑border structuring, transfer pricing, and international tax risk that crosses into those key trade and investment corridors and vice-versa.
KRA Vs Sendy: Kenya’s High Court VAT Precedent Threatens East Africa’s Gig Economy and Digital Commerce Growth.
Kenya’s High Court has recently delivered a Key decision in the battle over VAT in the ride-hailing/digital platform economy, that risks far-reaching ripple effects across East Africa’s digital commerce landscape.
The landmark decision fundamentally reclassifies digital platforms as primary suppliers of gig-economy services for VAT purposes. This brings them fully into the VAT net and forces gig workers/entrepreneurs and small merchants into VAT compliance, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the growth, structure, and taxation of the East African digital economy.
The immediate tax implication is that we now have two VATable transactions in every ride or delivery processed through a digital platform operating a similar business model. These are;
Supply from motor vehicle owner to tech platform (input VAT for the platform)
Supply from tech platform to end consumer (output VAT to the tax authorities on full final consideration paid by the end consumer)
This new reality is problematic from a commercial point of view, taking into consideration the nature and level of tax sophistication of most African economies.
The other immediate implication is that thousands of gig-economy participants have been hit with a VAT compliance shock overnight, and the reason is simple; e-commerce platforms lose input VAT if they trade with non-compliant taxpayers. Exposure to commercial activities of too many Non-VAT Traders or informal taxpayers makes the platform’s business model commercially unviable and wipes out margins.