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Sasra offers non-deposit taking saccos levy relief
Friday January 05 2024
Sacco shareholders during their AGM in March 2023. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Non-withdrawable deposit taking saccos will pay a discounted annual levy compared to the current 0.175 percent paid by deposit-takers, according to the latest schedule the saccos regulator has published. The levy is calculated as a percentage of the funds held by an institution.
The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) has set the annual levy for non-deposit taking entities under its supervision at 0.1 percent of the total non-withdrawable deposits they hold as at the close of the preceding financial year (to June 2023).
A sacco is classified as non-withdrawable deposit-taking if its business is strictly limited to the receipt of deposits that are not available for withdrawal for the duration of the membership and may be used as collateral against borrowing and domestic money transfer services only.
Sasra was traditionally supervising deposit-taking saccos since 2010 while the rest were under the Commissioner for Co-operatives.
However, Sasra’s mandate was in 2020 expanded to start supervising saccos with non-withdrawable deposits of at least Sh100 million.
Read: State raids Sacco funds with new tax in revenue push
The regulations also brought under Sasra all non-deposit taking saccos that mobilise membership and subscription to share capital through digital or other electronic payment platforms and those sharing capital from people residing outside Kenya.
The 0.1 percent levy capped at a maximum of Sh6 million is a discount compared with the 0.175 percent that is paid by deposit-taking saccos on their total deposits subject to a maximum of Sh10 million.
“The levy …shall be based on the total non-withdrawable deposits held by the sacco society as indicated by the audited financial statements of the Sacco society for the immediately preceding financial year,” said Sasra in a gazette notice published last Friday.
