Almost every tax on an import in Kenya is calculated from one number: the customs value, which is normally the CIF value — the Cost of the goods plus Insurance plus Freight to the port of entry, expressed in Kenya shillings. Get CIF right and the rest follows; get it wrong and every downstream figure is wrong too.
The first layer is import duty, set by the East African Community Common External Tariff. Since July 2022 it has four bands: 0% for most raw materials and capital goods (machinery, plant), 10% for intermediate goods, 25% for finished goods, and a 35% band introduced in 2022 for many sensitive finished products — dairy, cereals, steel, textiles, furniture and more. A handful of sensitive items carry specific higher rates instead of an ad-valorem percentage, so always confirm the exact rate against your HS code.
On top of duty come three near-universal charges. Excise duty applies only to specific goods — motor vehicles, alcohol, tobacco, sugary drinks, some electronics — and is layered on the CIF-plus-duty figure (or, for alcohol and cigarettes, as a specific shilling rate per unit). The Import Declaration Fee (IDF) is a flat 2.5% of CIF (minimum KES 5,000), reduced from 3.5% by the Finance Act 2023 — a change many online calculators still get wrong. The Railway Development Levy (RDL) is 2% of CIF. Finally, VAT at 16% sits at the top of the ladder, and crucially it is charged not on CIF alone but on CIF plus duty plus excise plus IDF plus RDL — so it compounds on everything below it.
Vehicles are the case people most often misjudge. A car attracts 35% duty, excise of 20% (engines up to 1500cc) or 25% (above 1500cc) — with fully electric vehicles getting a preferential 25% duty and 10% excise — then 16% VAT, plus IDF and RDL. The twist is valuation: for a used import, KRA ignores your invoice and values the car from its CRSP (Current Retail Selling Price) schedule, less depreciation for age. Every tax is then computed on that customs value, which is why a cheap purchase abroad can still attract a large bill at the port. Our landed-cost calculator walks through this ladder line by line.
If you are sizing up a business or a salary against these costs, it is worth seeing the wider tax picture too — our KRA tax guide covers income tax and VAT on the domestic side, and if a property purchase is part of the plan, the stamp duty guide explains the transfer cost. These are estimates: confirm the final figures with KRA Customs before you commit, because rates and the CRSP schedule are updated regularly.