After the Tax Appeals Tribunal decides

How long the Kenyan Tax Appeals Tribunal has to decide an appeal, and the thirty-day and two-day limits for taking its decision to the High Court.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya

Once an appeal is lodged with the Tax Appeals Tribunal, the client's first question is how long it will take. Its second, usually asked after the decision arrives, is whether it can go further. Both have answers in the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act, and both matter to a client who is carrying a disputed tax bill on its balance sheet while it waits.

This article is for the firm managing a Kenyan client's dispute at that stage: what the Act expects of the Tribunal, how a decision is taken to the High Court, and how to help the client decide whether the next round is worth it.

How long the Tribunal has

The Tax Appeals Tribunal Act, as published on Kenya Law, requires the Tribunal to hear and determine an appeal within ninety days of filing. Section 13(7) lets the panel extend that period by not more than thirty days. The Tax Appeals Tribunal Act on Kenya Law is the text to read for the full rules on hearings and decisions.

For the client, that gives a planning horizon. From the date the appeal was filed, the Act expects a determination within ninety days, or within a further thirty if the panel extends. A client preparing its next financial statements can use those dates when the auditors ask how the dispute stands.

Keep the filing date of the appeal on the file in a form nobody can misread. Every later date is counted from something, and in a dispute that lasts months, the starting point is the first thing people forget.

Thirty days to go to the High Court

Under the Act, a party may appeal a Tribunal decision to the High Court within thirty days after being notified of it. Either side can do this: the client, if it lost, or the Commissioner, if KRA did.

That second possibility deserves a sentence in the client letter. A client that wins at the Tribunal has not necessarily finished. Until thirty days have passed from notification without a notice of appeal from KRA, the outcome is not final.

Two days to serve the other party

The same provision requires the party appealing to serve the notice on the other party within two days of lodging it. As with the service step at the Tribunal stage, this is the limit most easily lost, because it follows hard on the filing.

Where the client appeals, the service copy should be ready before the notice is lodged. Where KRA appeals, the client should expect to be served within that short window, so watch for the notice and pass it to the firm at once.

The road so far, and the dates that drove it

It helps the client to see the whole path at once. Under the Tax Procedures Act, as published on Kenya Law, the Commissioner must decide an objection within sixty days of receiving a valid notice of objection, failing which the objection is deemed allowed, and a dissatisfied taxpayer may appeal to the Tribunal within thirty days of being notified of the decision. Before appealing to the Tribunal, the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act requires a non-refundable fee of twenty thousand shillings and written notice to the Commissioner.

Weighing whether to go further

A High Court appeal is a bigger undertaking than the Tribunal, and the firm's role changes: an advocate will usually lead, and the firm supports with the numbers and the file. The client's decision should rest on a few honest questions:

• How much tax, penalty and interest is still in dispute after the Tribunal's decision?
• Did the Tribunal decide on the facts, or on a point of law where a higher court might see it differently?
• Is the evidence on file complete, or did the case turn on something the client could not prove?
• What will the next round cost in fees and management time, set against the amount at stake?
• Is a settlement route worth exploring instead? KRA's alternative dispute resolution is described in KRA's ADR process.

Put the answers in writing. A client deciding under a thirty-day limit decides better with a one-page memo than after a long meeting.

Tracking every date in Achekam

Achekam computes objection and appeal deadlines for Kenyan assessments from its approved administration rule, setting each to the end of the day in Nairobi time. Its filing calendar leaves out any deadline whose rule is awaiting approval or contested and says why. Where a stage has no computed date, diary it by hand from the Act and note on the file that it was done that way.

The documents belong in the client's folder in the Document Centre: the objection, KRA's decision, the Tribunal papers, the decision itself and the notice of any further appeal. Staff can keep versions, tag files and search them, and archive or restore with a reason, so the full history of the dispute stays in one place when the matter moves to an advocate.

A decision memo for the client

When the Tribunal's decision arrives, send the client a short memo within days, not weeks:

1. What the Tribunal decided, in plain words.
2. The date the client was notified, and the date thirty days later.
3. Whether KRA may appeal, and by when.
4. The firm's view on the merits of a further appeal.
5. The likely cost and who would lead.
6. The decision the firm needs from the client, and by which date.

If the dispute started with an objection the firm prepared, making a notice of objection valid is worth revisiting for the next case; and for the lodging stage itself, see appealing to the Tax Appeals Tribunal.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.