3.2: Advocate for an attractive business environment
Kenya dropped from the FATF grey list based on substantial progress on legislative and institutional structures to combat AML/CFT.
Guidelines on prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in the Capital Markets gazetted on 4 March 2016.
Improved ability of foreign investors to reclaim tax.
A review was carried out by Anjarwalla and Khanna in June 2017 on existing framework for Double Taxation Agreements and set out areas of intervention on the following:
All the executed DTA's now require a diplomatic note to be issued by both Foreign Affairs offices to activate the treaties.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the issuance and execution of the treaties.
In 2018, a report was prepared by working group 4 highlighting challenges facing the execution of double taxation in Kenya. It also recommended countries that are strategic for Kenya to establish DTAs with. The next initiative for CMMP working group 4 is to liaise with the DTA committee at the National treasury to review Kenya's treaty policy and model.
Kenya has adopted OECD standards in corporate governance and exchange of tax information.
The KRA International Tax office is not involved in the Treaty Relief and Compliance Enhancement (TRACE) project.
OECD 2016 Peer review phase 2 report rates Kenya highly on compliance with the OECD standards on exchange of information.
On 8 December 2016, Kenya signed the convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. The convention is a multilateral instrument designed to facilitate international co-operation among tax authorities to improve their ability to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.
The NIFCA has implemented a consultancy to guide on the tax incentives to be put in place to support the establishment of Nairobi as an IFC.