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What is Monthly Rental Income (MRI) tax?

Monthly Rental Income (MRI) tax is a simplified tax on residential rental income in Kenya, charged at a flat 7.5% of gross rent (no expense deductions) for landlords earning between KSh 288,000 and KSh 15,000,000 a year. It is filed and paid every month, by the 20th of the following month, on KRA’s iTax.

Who MRI applies to

MRI covers residential rental income within the KSh 288,000–15,000,000 annual band. Below KSh 288,000 a year you are outside the regime; above KSh 15,000,000 you fall under the standard income-tax regime instead. Commercial rent is taxed differently.

How it is calculated

MRI is a flat 7.5% of the gross rent you collect — you do not deduct expenses first. For example, KSh 80,000 collected in a month means KSh 6,000 MRI for that month. Try the MRI tax calculator for your own figure.

Filing and deadline

You file and pay monthly via iTax by the 20th of the following month. Keeping a clean, per-tenant record of rent received makes this a quick monthly task rather than a scramble — see the full MRI tax guide.

Frequently asked

It is a flat 7.5% of gross residential rent (no expense deductions) for landlords earning between KSh 288,000 and KSh 15,000,000 per year.

MRI is filed and paid monthly on KRA iTax, by the 20th of the month following the month the rent was earned.

Resident landlords with residential rental income in the KSh 288,000–15,000,000 annual band. Below that you are exempt; above it, the standard income-tax regime applies.