Excise duty on M-Pesa transfers rises from 15% to 20%, and 16% VAT is added on bread inputs. KRA is also granted direct access to mobile money records.

Clause 12 amends the Excise Duty Act to lift the levy on mobile-money fees from 15% to 20%. Clause 27 removes bread from the zero-rated VAT schedule, exposing flour, yeast and packaging to the standard 16% VAT. Clause 76 inserts a new section into the Tax Procedures Act allowing KRA to request transaction data from any payment service provider without a prior court order.

Mobile money fees and bank transfers go up. Your transaction history is no longer private — KRA can pull it without a court order.

Payment providers must update fee tables within 7 days of assent. Internal compliance teams build an API endpoint for KRA queries. Banks add a new line item on statements showing the increased excise component, while M-Pesa tariffs auto-adjust at midnight.

Flour and packaging cost more. A loaf of bread goes up KES 5–10. Sending KES 1,000 now costs KES 28 instead of KES 23.

Millers pass the 16% VAT down the chain. A 400g loaf that retailed at KES 65 settles around KES 72–75. Small kiosks that survive on M-Pesa float report a 3–4% margin squeeze and quietly raise prices on sugar, cooking oil and airtime.

Higher airtime, costlier bread, more taken from every send-money. Roughly KES 1,200 extra per person each month — and a record of every transaction sits with the taxman.

For a household of four on a median income, the combined effect of higher M-Pesa fees, costlier bread and pass-through inflation works out to roughly KES 4,800 per month. Beyond cost, every till payment, school-fee transfer and chama contribution now sits on a queryable government register.