Commercial Banks in Kenya have raised excise duty from 10 percent to 12 percent

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Commercial Banks in Kenya have started implementing exercise duty on fees charged from 10 percent to 12 percent.

The new Finance Act 2018 states that these lenders should implement a 20 percent excise duty on all bank transactions.

Most banks have already notified their customers on the change in billing on counter transactions, ATMs and mobile transfers through text messages.

Spire Bank sent this message to its customers, “Dear customer, in line with the Finance Act 2018, excise duty charged on all Bank fees and other money transfer services has increased from 10 percent to 20 percent effective immediately.”

Kenyans are now expected to wait for the formal text or communication from their banks on the above matter.

The 20 percent excise duty is said to apply only to charges that are billed by individual banks. The amount charged will vary per category of withdrawals as listed by respective banks.

ATMs will also incur some additional charges when it comes to withdrawals as the fee will go up by Sh11 up to a maximum of Sh66.

Mobile money transactions have also gone up by two percent from 12 percent. Withdrawing between Sh501 to Sh2,500 via M-Pesa will cost an individual Sh28 from a previous Sh27. The range as set by mobile money transfer companies will go up by Sh1 per each category listed.