Double Taxation Agreements

Double taxation is a tax principle referring to income taxes paid twice on the same source of income. It can occurs when income is taxed at both the corporate level and personal level; and in international trade or investment when the same income is taxed in two different countries. It mainly occurs because corporations are considered separate legal entities from their shareholders. As such, corporations pay taxes on their annual earnings, just like individuals. When corporations pay out dividends to shareholders, those dividend payments incur income-tax liabilities for the shareholders who receive them, even though the earnings that provided the cash to pay the dividends were already taxed at the corporate level

Double taxation is often an unintended consequence of tax legislation. It is generally seen as a negative element of a tax system, and tax authorities attempt to avoid it whenever possible. A key method authorities use to address double taxation problem is through Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs). DTAs are international agreements between two countries to allocate taxing rights between the two countries that have negotiated the particular DTA. The purpose a DTA is to help the two countries to avoid double taxation. Kenya mainly uses DTAs to avoid double taxation at international level.

No.	Flag	Country	Status	Date of Signing	Date of Entry into Force	Agreement	Additional Information
1		Algeria	Under Consideration
2		Belgium	Under Negotiation
3		Botswana	Concluded (Not Signed)			Agreement Document
4		Cameroon	Under Consideration
5		Canada	In Force	27/04/1983	08/01/1987	Agreement Document
6		China	Signed (Not In Force)	21/09/2017
7		Denmark	In Force	13/12/1972	15/03/1973	Agreement Document
8		Democratic Republic of Congo	Under Consideration
9		East African Community	Signed (Not In Force)	30/11/2010		Agreement Document
10		Egypt	Under Negotiation
11		Ethiopia	Under Consideration
12		France	In Force	04/12/2007	01/11/2010	Agreement Document
13		Germany	In Force	17/05/1977	01/01/1980	Agreement Document
14		Ghana	Under Consideration
15		India				Agreement Document	Legal Notice
16		Iran	In Force	29/05/2012	13/07/2017	Agreement Document
17		Ireland	Proposed			Agreement Document
18		Italy	Signed (Not In Force)	03/03/2016
19		Ivory Coast	Under Consideration
20		Japan	Under Negotiation
21		Jordan	Under Consideration
22		Korea	In Force	07/07/2014	03/04/2017	Agreement Document
23		Kuwait	Signed (Not In Force)	12/11/2013		Agreement Document
24		Macedonia	Under Consideration
25		Malawi	Under Consideration
26		Malaysia	Under Negotiation
27		Mauritius	Signed (Not In Force)	07/05/2012		Agreement Document
28		Mozambique	Under Consideration
29		Netherlands	Signed (Not In Force)	22/07/2015		Agreement Document
30		Nigeria	Concluded (Not Signed)
31		Norway	In Force	13/12/1972	10/09/1973	Agreement Document
32		Portugal	Concluded (Not Signed)		10/07/2018
33		Qatar	In Force	23/04/2014	25/06/2015
34		Russia	Under Consideration
35		Saudi Arabia	Concluded (Not Signed)			Agreement Document
36		Senegal	Under Consideration
37		Seychelles	In Force	17/03/2014		Agreement Document
38		Singapore	Concluded (Not Signed)
39		South Africa	In Force	26/11/2010	01/01/2015	Agreement Document
40		South Sudan	Under Consideration
41		Spain	Under Negotiation
42		Sudan	Under Consideration
43		Sweden	In Force	28/06/1973	28/12/1973	Agreement Document
44		Thailand	Concluded (Not Signed)
45		Turkey	Concluded (Not Signed)			Agreement Document
46		United Arab Emirates	In Force	21/11/2011	22/02/2017	Agreement Document
47		United Kingdom	In Force	31/07/1973	30/07/1977	Agreement Document
48		Zambia	In Force	27/08/1968	01/01/1964	Agreement Document
49		Zimbabwe	Under Consideration