Kenyan creators push back against 5% YouTube withholding tax ahead of October rollout

Kenya’s Digital Content Creators Association (DCCAK) has asked the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to suspend collection of a 5% withholding tax on digital content monetisation until the government engages creators and other industry stakeholders, according to reports.

The request comes as Google prepares to begin withholding the tax directly from YouTube earnings for Kenya-based creators. The company has asked AdSense for YouTube users to submit their KRA Personal Identification Numbers by 1 October 2026, with the deduction first applying to September earnings paid out in October.

Google has warned that accounts without a verified PIN will have their payments held, though earnings will continue accumulating in the background.

What the tax actually changes in Kenya

The 5% withholding is not a new tax. It stems from Kenya’s Finance Act 2023, which set a 5% withholding rate for resident individuals and entities earning from digital content, and 20% for non-residents without a permanent establishment in the country.

What changes with Google’s rollout is enforcement: rather than creators declaring and settling the tax themselves at year-end, the deduction will now happen automatically at the point of payment, similar to how Google already withholds US tax on earnings from American viewers.

DCCAK’s intervention does not suspend the tax or alter the law, and unless Treasury or KRA responds, the withholding obligation remains in force from October. The association’s concern centres on whether the collection method reflects how creators actually earn income and manage costs such as equipment, editing and production, given that withholding is calculated on gross payouts rather than final tax liability.

Kenya’s approach puts it ahead of most African markets on this front. Google does not withhold local tax from AdSense payments made to creators in Nigeria or South Africa; creators in both countries are instead expected to declare platform income and settle it independently with their national tax authorities.

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Kenyan creators will also need to distinguish the new local deduction from any separate US withholding tax already applied to earnings from US-based viewers, a rate that depends on individual tax information submitted to Google and is governed by a different legal framework entirely.

DCCAK’s request now puts the question of how to collect the tax, rather than whether creators should pay it, before Treasury and KRA, with the October 1 deadline standing as the immediate compliance date for creators regardless of the outcome.