Tabitha’s biggest test in brewing fight with taxman

Mrs Tabitha Karanja said her firm has been paying excise duty at Sh26.40 per litre, and KRA has always received and acknowledged the payments [Photo: Wilberforce Okwiri/STANDARD]

Tabitha Karanja is staring at her biggest test yet in the all-too-familiar tussles with the taxman relating to a small misunderstanding but with huge implications.

It has been a rather difficult year after she was voted Africa’s businesswoman of the year, her alcohol manufacturing firm Keroche Breweries having been closed for days for alleged non-compliance on taxation. “I find that tax claim to be very ridiculous,” Mrs Karanja told the Standard on Sunday. Her firm had just been slapped with a Sh1.3 billion tax bill relating to its ready-to-drink Vodka Viena Ice, which is only the latest of run-ins with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).