The High Court in Kisumu has temporarily suspended the use of new Current Retail Selling Price (CRSP) values by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The new CRSP values were set to go into effect on July 1, 2025. The High Court issued the order following a petition that was filed by Elizabeth Akinyi.
Ms Akinyi told the court that the new CRSP pricing list was passed without adequate public participation in violation of Articles 118 and 201 (a) of the Constitution which require public participation in legislation and public finance matters.
She further told the court that she had learned about the new CRSP for the first time after the implementation circular was issued by the taxman on May 22,2025, and said that the 30-day notice for implementation was too abrupt and in violation of the legitimate expectation of importers-dealers and members of the public, who had budgeted for placed shipment orders using the 2019 CRSP.
“The 30-day notice by the KRA and the Commissioner for Customs and Border Control for the implementation of the impugned CRSP is manifestly unreasonable, arbitrary, and whimsical,” Akinyi said in her affidavit.
READ MORE: Importers of second hand cars sue KRA over new CRSP values
In addition, she argued before court that the new CRSP was hurried assembled and contains fundamental errors and omissions.
“For instance, it omits or fails to provide for several vehicle models imported into the country by car dealers and individual customers. In other instances, it erroneously matches car models with non-existent features, including wrong fuel types, chassis numbers, and attaches different values to the same car models,” she told the High Court.
In response, the court found that there was merit in her argument, necessitating the temporary suspension hours before the circular went into effect.
“Prayers 2 and 3 [seeking suspension of the KRA CRSP circular] of the application are granted on a temporary basis until July 17, 2025,” High Court judge, Justice Joe Omido ruled.
