Tala to lay off 10% of employees in Kenya

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Kenya has officially changed how tax returns will be filed after President William Ruto signed the Finance Act 2026 into law on June 23. The biggest change is that salaried employees and other individual taxpayers will no longer wait until June 30 to file their annual returns. Starting in 2027, PAYE employees will have until April 30 to file, while taxpayers with nil returns will need to file by January 31. Companies will continue filing within six months of the end of their financial year, meaning many will still face a June 30 deadline.

The government says the new timetable is about efficiency. For years, millions of Kenyans have rushed to submit returns before the June 30 deadline, creating a filing bottleneck for both taxpayers and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Treasury officials argue that earlier deadlines will give KRA more time to verify returns, reconcile tax records, and improve revenue forecasting before a new financial cycle begins. The shift is also possible because KRA increasingly relies on pre-populated tax data sourced from eTIMS invoices, withholding tax records, and other digital systems.

What makes this important is that it signals the next phase of Kenya’s digital tax transformation. Over the past few years, KRA has rolled out eTIMS, expanded data collection, and automated more parts of the tax process. The idea is that if tax information is already available digitally, taxpayers should need less time to prepare returns. The Finance Act effectively aligns filing deadlines with that new reality.

The proposal did not appear overnight. It first surfaced in the Finance Bill 2026 earlier this year, sparking concerns among taxpayers and business groups who argued that shortening filing timelines could make compliance harder. Treasury later clarified that the changes would mainly affect nil filers and individuals whose taxes are largely deducted at source through PAYE, while businesses would largely retain their existing filing schedules. Some lobby groups have since challenged aspects of the new timelines in court, meaning parts of the implementation could still face legal scrutiny.

For now, however, nothing changes for the current filing season. Taxpayers are still required to submit returns for the 2025 income year by June 30, 2026. The new staggered system only takes effect on January 1, 2027, when Kenya will begin moving away from the long-standing practice of having virtually everyone file returns on the same date. If fully implemented, it could become one of the most significant changes to the country’s tax administration system in years.

Digital lender Tala is preparing to cut about 10% of its workforce in Kenya as part of a wider global reorganisation, according to BusinessDaily. The move will affect roughly 95 employees based on estimates that Tala employs around 950 people in the country. The company says the restructuring is aimed at aligning operations with its long-term strategy and improving efficiency as it evolves its business.

The company, which entered Kenya in 2014 before rebranding from Mkopo Rahisi to Tala, helped pioneer app-based digital lending in East Africa and became one of the most recognisable names in the sector. Any significant workforce reduction from a player of Tala’s size is likely to be closely watched across the region’s fintech industry.

The layoffs also reflect a broader trend sweeping through African fintech. After years of prioritising rapid growth and expansion, many startups are now under pressure to improve efficiency, automate operations, and focus on profitability. Over the past two years, several well-funded fintechs have trimmed staff despite reporting healthy revenues, as investors increasingly reward sustainable businesses rather than growth at all costs. In May, Branch also cut jobs in Kenya and Nigeria despite reporting profitability.

This is not the first time Tala has reduced headcount. In April 2025, the company laid off 28 employees from its customer operations team, citing fewer customer support requests and a decline in loan defaults as borrowers increasingly managed repayments on their own. At the time, Tala said improved self-service tools and repayment rates above 95% had reduced the workload in parts of its operations.

The latest cuts come against a backdrop of major change in Kenya’s digital lending market. Since the Central Bank of Kenya began licensing and regulating digital credit providers, the industry has become more mature and competitive. Tala, which serves millions of customers globally and counts Kenya as one of its largest markets, is now balancing growth with operational efficiency. The restructuring suggests the company is betting that a leaner organisation will help it navigate the next phase of digital lending rather than the breakneck expansion that defined its early years.

The partnership reflects a growing shift in the telecom industry. Mobile operators are no longer content with earning revenue solely from calls, texts, and Internet access. Instead, they’re increasingly acting as distribution platforms for streaming, fintech, cloud, and subscription services. By bringing Amazon Prime into its offering, Vodacom is following a strategy already seen in other markets where telecom operators bundle popular digital services to reduce customer churn and increase spending per subscriber.

The timing also works in Amazon’s favour. Amazon has been steadily expanding its presence in South Africa, launching Amazon.co.za in 2024 and introducing Amazon Prime to the local market in June 2026. The Prime launch was well received online, with many South Africans highlighting the lower pricing and bundled benefits compared to standalone streaming subscriptions. A partnership with Vodacom immediately gives Amazon access to millions of potential customers through existing billing relationships and marketing channels.

This isn’t the first time Vodacom has looked beyond connectivity for growth. Over the past few years, the company has expanded aggressively into financial services, digital content, cloud offerings, and strategic partnerships. In May 2026, for example, Vodacom’s M-Pesa business partnered with PayPal in Tanzania to improve access to global digital payments, while the wider Vodafone-Vodacom group has also been working with Amazon on satellite connectivity projects across Africa. The Amazon Prime partnership fits neatly into that broader ambition to become a digital services platform rather than just a mobile network operator.