As of March 1, 2021 in Kenya, those who sell stays or rent houses on the Booking.com platform and are not registered with the local tax office will be subject to a 14% V.A.T. surcharge, applied by the same international booking site, in addition to its regular commissions. Those who, for various reasons, have not yet registered will have until 28 February 2021 to do so, or else begin to see their earnings reduced.
This decision is the result of a change in Kenyan tax legislation, as the platform itself confirms in a statement sent to its subscribers.
"Services provided in Kenya by non-resident companies will now be subject to Kenyan VAT," explain Booking.com. "As a result of this new registration, we will charge 14% VAT in addition to our commission. We will remit the VAT directly to the Kenyan tax authorities. We will charge 14% if you are not registered for VAT in Kenya, or if you are registered for VAT but do not qualify for the full input tax credit and confirm that you will not apply the reverse charge mechanism on our commission."
Booking.com is therefore asking its customers to enter the correct VAT information on the extranet before 28 February 2021 so that it can apply the correct VAT on the commission it will charge. If this information is not entered, the site will automatically apply VAT at 14% in addition to the commission.