The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has achieved a historic milestone, collecting a record-breaking Ksh 85.1 billion in customs taxes for September 2025, the highest amount ever recorded in the authority’s history.

According to a statement shared by KRA on its official X account on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, this performance marks a new chapter in Kenya’s revenue collection drive, reflecting stronger trade flows, improved tax compliance, and enhanced efficiency within customs operations.

“Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has recorded another landmark achievement in customs tax collection, recording a historic monthly performance of Ksh 85.146 billion in September 2025,” KRA stated, adding that this was the highest collection. “This represents the highest amount ever collected in a single month in the Authority’s history,” KRA stated.

Record-breaking growth

In September alone, KRA’s customs collections exceeded the target of Ksh 81.3 billion by Ksh 3.8 billion, achieving a performance rate of 104.7 per cent. Compared to the same period last year, this marks an 18.8 per cent year-on-year growth, underlining the resilience of Kenya’s trade sector despite tough economic conditions.

Higher revenues from trade and petroleum taxes drove the strong performance. Trade taxes contributed Ksh 51.7 billion, growing by 22 per cent from the same period last year, while petroleum taxes collected Ksh 33.4 billion, recording a remarkable 109 per cent performance rate.

Reforms driving results

The success, KRA noted, is largely due to ongoing reforms designed to tighten revenue systems and seal loopholes. Among these is the introduction of a central release operations office, where verification officers work from a central hub and randomly allocate release stations for goods clearance.

This new approach has reduced human contact, minimised corruption risks, and ensured quicker, more transparent cargo clearance; a move that has won praise from traders and importers.

“This process has minimised human contact, ensuring more objective cargo release decisions and closing potential revenue loopholes. Additionally, the reform has significantly improved cargo release turnaround times,” the statement read.

Sustaining economic growth

The record performance, KRA said, highlights the authority’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Kenya’s fiscal stability and support the country’s economic growth.

“These outstanding results underscore KRA’s unwavering commitment to continuously improving tax collection systems and processes to meet revenue targets consistently,” the statement concluded.