SACCO Dividend Calculator (Kenya)

Background.

SACCO members in Kenya typically receive two entirely different kinds of income from their membership, and Kenya's tax law treats them differently — a distinction that is easy to miss and that this calculator keeps visible. The first is a share dividend: a return declared at the Annual General Meeting as a percentage of a member's paid-up share capital, taxed under the Income Tax Act as a 'qualifying dividend.' The second is FOSA or BOSA deposit interest: ordinary interest credited on a member's savings or transaction account balance, taxed the same way bank deposit interest is taxed. Both are subject to withholding tax deducted by the SACCO before payment, but the rates are not the same, and mixing them up produces the wrong take-home figure.

KRA's own published withholding tax rate table sets the dividend rate at 5% for a resident individual member's qualifying dividend and 15% for a non-resident. This 5% figure has been the subject of genuine public confusion — viral social media claims in past years suggested the rate had jumped to 15% for everyone, prompting fact-checking organisations to investigate and confirm the 5% resident rate was still correct, citing the same Third Schedule of the Income Tax Act this calculator relies on. Multiple independent Kenyan tax-advisory sources agree on this figure, giving it strong confirmation.

FOSA and BOSA deposit interest is taxed differently: KRA's published rate table sets bank and financial-institution interest withholding at 15%, applying equally to residents and non-residents, and Kenyan tax-advisory practice treats deposit-taking SACCOs (regulated under the Sacco Societies Act, supervised by SASRA) the same way as banks for this purpose. This calculator applies that 15% rate to FOSA/BOSA interest. One thing worth being upfront about: some SACCO-focused commentary online claims a small annual tax-free threshold applies specifically to SACCO deposit interest (a figure sometimes cited as the first KES 12,000 per year), but this could not be independently confirmed against the Income Tax Act's own text during this build — so this calculator applies the withholding tax to the full interest amount rather than assuming an unverified exemption, and flags this explicitly so members can check the point with their own SACCO or KRA rather than being quietly misled either way.

For a resident individual, both withholding deductions are final tax under KRA's own guidance — qualifying dividends and qualifying interest are both listed among the categories excepted from further declaration on an annual return, meaning the net figures this calculator shows are genuinely the final amount you keep, with nothing more owed to KRA on these two income streams specifically.

What is sacco dividend calculator?

A SACCO (Savings and Credit Co-operative Organisation) pays its members two structurally different kinds of income. Share dividends are a return on the member's paid-up share capital, declared as a percentage at the Annual General Meeting and taxed as a 'qualifying dividend' — 5% withholding tax for a resident individual, 15% for a non-resident, under the Third Schedule of the Income Tax Act, Cap 470. FOSA (Front Office Service Activity) and BOSA (Back Office Service Activity) deposit interest is interest credited on a member's savings or transaction account balance — an entirely separate income stream from share capital, taxed at the general 15% withholding rate that applies to bank and financial-institution interest.

This calculator computes both figures side by side from a single set of inputs — share capital, the AGM dividend rate, and FOSA/BOSA interest earned — and applies each income stream's own correct withholding tax rate rather than a single blended rate. For a resident individual, both withholding deductions are final tax, meaning no further income tax is owed on these two income sources once the SACCO has withheld and remitted the amounts shown.

This calculator is valid for a standard individual SACCO member receiving both income types under the published rates. It does not model corporate members, treaty-relief claims for non-residents, SACCO-level corporate tax on income from non-members, or any tax-free threshold on deposit interest that could not be independently verified this session — that last point is disclosed explicitly in the FAQs below.

How to use this calculator.

1. 01Enter your total SACCO share capital in KES, from your member statement.
2. 02Enter the dividend rate your SACCO's AGM declared for the period — check your AGM notice or dividend advice.
3. 03Enter the FOSA or BOSA deposit interest credited to your account for the same period, from your account statement.
4. 04Select your tax residency status — most members should leave this at 'Resident.'
5. 05Read the primary result: your total net payout combining both income streams after withholding tax.
6. 06Review the breakdown to see the dividend and interest withholding tax applied separately, since they use different rates.

The formula.

The calculator treats the two income streams entirely separately before combining them at the end. The gross dividend is share capital multiplied by the AGM-declared dividend rate. Withholding tax on that dividend is 5% for a resident individual member (a 'qualifying dividend' under the Third Schedule of the Income Tax Act) or 15% for a non-resident — a genuinely different rate depending on residency, unlike the interest calculation below. Subtracting that withholding tax from the gross dividend gives the net dividend payout.

FOSA/BOSA interest is treated independently: the full interest amount entered is multiplied by 15%, the general withholding tax rate KRA publishes for bank and financial-institution interest, applied here to SACCO deposit interest on the basis that deposit-taking SACCOs are regulated as financial institutions under the Sacco Societies Act. Unlike the dividend rate, this 15% rate does not change with residency status. Subtracting that withholding tax from the gross interest gives the net interest payout.

The calculator then reports both the individual breakdowns and two combined totals: total gross income (dividend plus interest, before any tax) and the total net payout (net dividend plus net interest) — the figure that actually matters to a member checking their SACCO statement. Because both withholding taxes are final tax for a resident individual under KRA's own guidance, the total net payout is not just an estimate of take-home pay before further tax — for a resident member, it is the final amount, with no additional income tax due on these two income sources.

A worked example.

Frequently asked questions.

References& sources.

1. [1]Kenya Revenue Authority — Withholding Tax rate table (dividends and interest), individual withholding tax
2. [2]Income Tax Act, Cap 470 (Laws of Kenya) — Third Schedule (withholding tax rates) and s.35(3)(d) (SACCO dividend withholding obligation)
3. [3]Africa Check — fact-check confirming SACCO dividends remain taxed at 5% for residents, not 15%