KRA VAT Calculator

Background.

One supplier quotes KSh 12,000 plus VAT. Another quotes KSh 13,920 inclusive. At Kenya's general rate of 16% those are the same price, and telling them apart is most of what a VAT calculation is for: adding 16% to a net figure, pulling the VAT back out of a gross one, and, for a business registered for VAT, working out how much of the tax it has collected must actually be paid to KRA.

Those are the three modes here. VAT-exclusive takes a net amount and adds VAT: 12,000 × 0.16 = 1,920 of VAT and 13,920 in all. VAT-inclusive runs the other way, dividing a gross amount by 1.16 to find the net and treating the difference as VAT. The arithmetic that catches people out is this reverse step, because 16% of the gross price is not the VAT in it; on KSh 13,920 that shortcut gives KSh 2,227.20 instead of KSh 1,920.

Input-output mode is for the monthly return. A registered business charges output VAT on its sales and pays input VAT on its business purchases, and KRA's rule is output tax minus input tax equals tax payable. KRA's own example is the default here: a sale of KSh 12,000 carries KSh 1,920 of output VAT, a purchase of KSh 10,000 carried KSh 1,600 of input VAT, and the business pays KSh 320. If you already know the month's output VAT from your sales records, type it in directly and the net sales are worked back from it.

The rate can be changed, which covers zero-rated supplies at 0% and any future change to the general rate. What the calculator cannot do is decide whether a particular sale is standard-rated, zero-rated or exempt, whether a purchase invoice entitles you to an input claim, or whether you need to register. Those depend on the VAT Act and KRA's rules, and they come before the arithmetic.

What is kra vat calculator?

Value added tax in Kenya is charged under the VAT Act, 2013 on taxable supplies of goods and services made in Kenya and on imports. It is collected in stages: each VAT-registered business charges VAT on its sales, deducts the VAT it paid on its business purchases, and pays KRA the difference, so the tax falls on the final consumer while businesses act as collectors. The general rate is 16%. Supplies listed in the Second Schedule to the Act are zero-rated, taxable at 0%, and those in the First Schedule are exempt, meaning not taxable at all. A business must register once its taxable supplies reach, or are expected to reach, KSh 5 million in a year, and it files a return and pays by the 20th day of the following month through iTax. Tax invoices are generated through KRA's eTIMS system.

How to use this calculator.

1. 01Choose the mode. VAT-exclusive if your figure is before VAT, such as a quotation marked "plus VAT"; VAT-inclusive if it already contains VAT, such as a shop till receipt; input-output if you are working out a VAT return.
2. 02Enter the figure in the matching box: the net amount for VAT-exclusive and input-output modes, the gross amount for VAT-inclusive mode. The other amount box is ignored in that mode.
3. 03Leave the rate at 16 for standard-rated supplies, or enter 0 for a zero-rated supply. Exempt supplies carry no VAT and no input claim, so they do not belong in the return arithmetic at all.
4. 04In input-output mode, enter the input VAT on your valid purchase invoices for the period. If you have the month's output VAT total from your sales records or eTIMS, type it in the output VAT box; any amount above 0 there replaces net sales × rate.
5. 05Choose the rounding: nearest cent for invoices and returns, nearest shilling for quick price checks, or unrounded to see the full figures.

The formula.

Let N be the net amount, G the gross VAT-inclusive amount and r the rate as a decimal (16% gives 0.16).

VAT-exclusive: VAT = N × r and G = N × (1 + r). The multiplier is 1.16, so 12,000 becomes 13,920.

VAT-inclusive: N = G ÷ (1 + r) and VAT = G − N. Dividing by 1.16 is the correct inverse because the 16% was charged on the net amount, not on the gross. The VAT share of any inclusive price is therefore r ÷ (1 + r), which at 16% is 16/116, about 13.79%. Multiplying the gross by 0.84 does not recover the net either: on 13,920 it gives 11,692.80 instead of 12,000. In this mode the effective rate is recalculated as VAT ÷ net × 100, which confirms the rate you entered.

Input-output: output VAT = net sales × r, unless you type output VAT directly, in which case net sales = output VAT ÷ r (the direct entry cannot be used with a 0% rate). Gross = net + output VAT, and VAT payable = output VAT − input VAT. The payable figure can be negative, which means the period's input VAT exceeded its output VAT. On the actual return two more items can reduce the amount due, excess input VAT brought forward from earlier months and VAT withheld by customers acting as agents; neither has a box here, so subtract them from the payable figure yourself.

In the VAT-exclusive and VAT-inclusive modes there is no purchase side, so input VAT is shown as 0 and the VAT payable equals the VAT on the amount entered. Rounding applies to each money figure as it is displayed: to the cent, to the shilling, or not at all. The payable amount is worked out from the unrounded output and input VAT and then rounded, so with shilling rounding it can differ by one from the difference of the two rounded lines.

A worked example.

Frequently asked questions.

References& sources.

1. [1]Kenya Revenue Authority (n.d.). "Value Added Tax (VAT)." KRA.
2. [2]Kenya Law (2025). "Value Added Tax Act, Cap. 476." National Council for Law Reporting.
3. [3]Kenya Revenue Authority (n.d.). "Value Added Tax." KRA.
4. [4]National Institute of Standards and Technology (2026). "NIST Handbook 133, Appendix E: General Tables of Units of Measurement." U.S. Department of Commerce.
5. [5]Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (2019). "The International System of Units (SI Brochure), 9th edition." BIPM.