Categories: Blog

Finance Bill? How to prepare for July 2023

An Employee in need of help.

A lady looking stressed.

The raft of changes to taxes and statutory deductions being proposed by the government in Kenya are going to put significant pressure on employers and employees alike across the country. The net effect of the proposed changes is that costs will increase and disposable income will decrease.

Anticipated changes as a result of the change in legislation

• Introduction of the Housing Levy Deduction at 1.5% of the gross pay

• The new NSSF rates which are gradually expected to hit 6% of the gross monthly income for all over time

• Changes in Personal Income Tax bands: An increase of 2.5% and 5% of PAYE for those earning over 500,000 and 800,000 respectively

• A proposed NHIF rate of 2.75% on the gross salary toward s NHIF contribution

• Increased cost of living due to a hike in fuel prices

Based on this, it is expected that there will be a reduction in net income while expenses will increase. Adjustments will be necessary in order to accommodate these additional deductions from the present payslip before July 2023.

How to cope with the new adjustments

• Work on reducing other non essential obligations. Some ways you could do this include; shop around for bargains, buy things in bulk, eliminate unnecessary subscriptions or fees and discontinue any expenditure on non-essentials.

• Review your daily activities(wants) and spot where you can make some savings e.g carry out an energy audit in the home to identify areas where you can save some energy to reduce the high electricity bills.

• Consider restructuring your monthly contributions (Loans) to an amount that makes it comfortable to live while being careful not to incur penalties or higher interest rates.

• Postpone big ticket purchases where these are not immediately necessary as some of the hikes in prices may be temporary and it may pay to hold out.

• Defer any future financial plans until you stabilize.

David Kedode

David is a husband to a loving wife-Dinah, a father of two, Daniella and Darian and above all, a born-again Christian. David is currently working at TNR Trust as the Administrator and a part time Virtual Assistant at TrayerWilderness.com as a Virtual Assistant and also as a contributing author at http://trayerwilderness.com/category/positively-encouraging/inspiration-encouragement/. I'm a Born again Christian mostly interested in the youths. My hobbies include: Playing soccer, cooking, reading and travelling. I also manages my a blog Youths4Life.com where I write about issues relating to our youths, and general family matters.