Can KRA stop you from leaving Kenya over unpaid tax?
Tax Procedures Act · sources read 5 Oct 2026
Yes. If KRA has reasonable grounds to believe you may leave Kenya without paying tax, it can send immigration a departure prohibition order, and immigration must stop you leaving, including by holding your passport. KRA must lift the order once you pay in full or agree a payment arrangement it accepts.
- Deadline
- Appeal to the Tax Appeals Tribunal within 30 days of receiving the order
- Where
- KRA: pay on iTax or agree a payment arrangement at a KRA office. Immigration enforces the order at the border.
Steps
- Check the copy of the order KRA must serve on you. It names you and states the amount of tax claimed.
- Pay the tax in full. KRA must then revoke the order.
- If you cannot pay at once, agree a payment arrangement with KRA. KRA must also revoke the order when you make an arrangement it is satisfied with.
- Once KRA decides to revoke the order, it tells immigration and you. Keep that notice for when you travel.
- If you dispute the order itself, you can appeal to the Tax Appeals Tribunal: a departure prohibition order is a decision under a tax law that is not a tax decision, so it counts as an appealable decision.
Watch out
- Immigration can confiscate and keep your passport, ID, visa or other travel document to stop you leaving.
- The order does not expire on its own. It stays in force until KRA revokes it.
- While the order is in force you will not get customs or immigration clearance.
Who this covers
- Anyone KRA reasonably believes may leave Kenya without paying their own tax, or tax owed by a company where they are a controlling member or tax representative.
Official sources (3)
- Tax Procedures Act (Cap. 469B), version of 1 September 2026 new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026
- Tax Appeals Tribunal Act (Cap. 469A), version of 1 July 2023 new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026
- iTax itax.kra.go.ke · read 30 Sep 2026