2023 budget to levy taxes on transfers of cryptocurrency and NFT’s plus online content creation
The new 2023/24 Kenyan budget proposes two new digital taxes:
- 3% on the transfer of cryptocurrencies and Non-Fungible Tokens; and
- 15% on digital content monetization levying – content creators paid to promote and advertise products and services online including but not limited to sponsorships, affiliate marketing, merchandise sales and paid subscriptions.
The above taxes are separate from the 16% VAT on digital services provided to consumers. Kenya has also indicated that it will withdraw its 1.5% Digital Services Tax as progress is made on the OECD Pillar 2 minimum global tax rate agreement.
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain
Electronic non-fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies or crypto-assets exist as peer-to-peer payments systems without the support or regulation of state central banks. They generally use linked computers (‘nodes’) as distributed ledger systems (‘blockchain’) to record and provide proof of currency exchanges whilst protecting the identify of individuals. There are many examples, including bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.
Types of crypto-assets payment tokens
The Commission views crypto-assets as coming in three forms of tokens:
- Payment tokens, a virtual payment currency such as bitcoin
- Security tokens, investment tradeable assets such as Spice
- Utility tokens, a virtual prepayment for goods or services similar to vouchers
