Why most car import duty calculators in Kenya are wrong (and how KRA really does it)
Many online duty calculators still use 25% import duty, one excise rate and old levies. KRA’s own July 2025 valuation template says otherwise — here is the method, line by line, and how far off the old one is.
Updated 1 October 2026 · 6 min read
Search for a car import duty calculator in Kenya and you will find plenty. Put the same car into two of them and you can get answers hundreds of thousands of shillings apart. The reason is simple: many still use the rates and formula from before KRA's July 2025 price list. The fix is just as simple — KRA published its method, inside the same spreadsheet as the prices.
Where KRA's method lives
KRA's July 2025 CRSP workbook (New-CRSP---July-2025.xlsx) has a sheet called TEMPLATE 2025, prepared and approved by KRA staff on 30 May 2025. It works the duty out cell by cell for each kind of vehicle. For an ordinary car:
- Customs value = CRSP ÷ 1.25 × (1 − depreciation) ÷ 1.35 ÷ (1 + excise rate) ÷ 1.16
- Import duty = customs value × 35% (25% for fully electric)
- Excise = (customs value + import duty) × 20% up to 1,500cc, 25% above, 35% for petrol over 3,000cc or diesel over 2,500cc, 10% for fully electric
- VAT = (customs value + import duty + excise) × 16%
- Railway development levy = customs value × 2%
- Import declaration fee = customs value × 2.5%
The four mistakes we keep finding
| Old assumption | What KRA's template and the law say |
|---|---|
| Import duty 25% | 35% — KRA said in June 2025 it had risen from 25% in 2019 to 35% |
| One excise rate (20%) for every car | 20%, 25% or 35% by engine size and fuel; 10% for electric |
| IDF 2.25% and railway levy 1.5% | 2.5% and 2% — the Finance Act 2025 changed neither rate |
| One fixed divisor (2.4469) for every car | The divisor depends on the excise band; 2.4469 is only right for cars over 1,500cc |
A fifth one is about age: several calculators still offer 2018 cars, but KEBS only admits cars first registered in 2019 or later in 2026.
How far off it gets
A 2020 Mazda CX-30 diesel (1,756cc), with a CRSP of KSh 6,215,087, imported in 2026:
| Old method | KRA's template | |
|---|---|---|
| Customs value | KSh 1,142,993 | KSh 1,143,005 |
| Import duty | 25% | 35% |
| Excise | 20% | 25% |
| Total to KRA | KSh 888,677 | KSh 1,145,862 |
The customs value is nearly identical — this car happens to sit in the band where the old divisor is right — but the wrong duty and excise rates leave the old answer about KSh 257,000 short. That is money a buyer finds out about at the port.
Check any car
Our import duty calculator follows KRA's template exactly, for all 5,277 vehicles on the July 2025 list, and we checked it against KRA's own sample tabulations to the cent. It is still an estimate — KRA assesses each car at the port — but it is KRA's method, not a guess.
Questions owners ask
What is the import duty rate on cars in Kenya in 2026?
35% of the customs value for ordinary used cars (25% for fully electric), according to KRA’s July 2025 valuation template and KRA’s June 2025 statement that the rate rose from 25% in 2019 to 35% in 2025.
What is CRSP?
The Current Retail Selling Price: KRA’s reference retail price for each model, published as a list. KRA starts from it, not from what you paid, when it values a used car for duty.
Sources