TikTok Asks Kenyan Creators for Tax Details as Deadline Loom

Kenya’s 5% tax on digital content earnings is moving from a rule creators have had to account for on paper into the payment systems that actually send them their money.

Google has set October 1 as the deadline for Kenyan YouTube creators to submit and verify their KRA PINs in AdSense for YouTube. The company will withhold 5% of finalised YouTube earnings subject to Kenya’s tax rules, starting with September 2026 earnings that are paid out in October. Creators who do not provide a verified PIN can continue accumulating earnings, but Google says their payments may be held until the tax information is approved.

TikTok is taking a similar step, although it has not gone as far as Google. The platform has begun asking Kenyan creators to complete a tax form with their name, email address, address, country of residence and residential status, saying the information will be used to verify their tax responsibilities and fulfil its payment obligations. It has not given a date for when deductions will begin or explained how the requirement will apply across its different creator programmes.

YouTube has a deadline, a withholding rate and a stated first payment period. TikTok currently has the form, the tax-residency classification and an instruction to complete it as soon as possible, but no equivalent date for the first deduction.

That is happening against a tax rule that is already three years old. Kenya introduced withholding tax on digital content monetisation in July 2023, and KRA currently lists the rate at 5% for residents and 20% for non-residents. The authority defines withholding tax as a deduction made at the point of payment, with the tax remitted to KRA and a certificate issued to the recipient as evidence of the amount deducted.

Instead of a creator receiving the full payment and dealing with the tax separately, the platform making or facilitating the qualifying payment can take the applicable amount first and remit it to KRA. Google’s rollout makes that process particularly concrete: the company says it will report the gross payments subject to Kenyan withholding tax, the amount withheld, the creator’s PIN and address to KRA each month.

This has prompted resistance from the Digital Content Creators Association of Kenya, which has asked Treasury and KRA to suspend collection of the 5% withholding tax until the government engages creators and their representatives. The association argues that the implementation needs to account for the way creators earn, spend and manage their income, while the statutory tax itself remains in place unless the government changes its position.

A withholding deduction is not necessarily the final amount of income tax a creator owes for the year; KRA treats the amount withheld as tax deducted at source, with the recipient receiving a certificate that records what has already been paid.

A creator with KSh100,000 of qualifying income subject to a 5% withholding would receive KSh95,000 from the payment, while KSh5,000 would be remitted as withholding tax. That amount would then be accounted for when the creator settles their wider tax position.

The rollout is also exposing a difference between the platforms themselves. Google has specified the information it needs, the date by which creators must provide it and the point at which withholding begins. TikTok is collecting similar information but has not yet said when it will start deducting tax, whether every creator payout will be covered or what will happen to creators who do not complete the form.