The problem
Rental tax is still worked out by hand, one statement at a time.
Statements are reconciled line by line
Someone downloads the landlord's M-Pesa statement, then matches each payment to a tenant in a spreadsheet. Masked phone numbers, spouses paying for tenants and one payment covering two units make it slow and error-prone.
The rules changed in 2026
Landlords living abroad moved to a 30% tax on gross rent, residential and commercial. Agents collecting their rent must withhold 30% of each payment and remit it within five working days. Getting the regime wrong means paying a quarter of the tax, or four times too much.
Tax withheld by tenants gets lost
Company tenants often deduct withholding tax before paying. The landlord's statement shows the net amount, the gross rent is never recorded, and the certificates that prove the tax was paid go uncollected.
KRA is tightening the net
KRA's eRITS system links landlords to their properties, and proposed regulations would register every rental unit. Monthly records that trace back to real payments are becoming the minimum.
How it works
Upload a statement. Get the month's figures.
- 1
Import the rent roll
One spreadsheet of properties, units, tenants, phone numbers and rents. Daftari checks every row before importing.
- 2
Upload the statement
The M-Pesa statement PDF, or the Paybill or Till export. The file and its password are used once and never stored.
- 3
Confirm the few it was unsure of
Payments are matched by Paybill account, phone number, payer name and amount. Each confirmation teaches Daftari that payer for next month.
- 4
File by the 20th
Copy the month's figures into your return. Every figure traces back to the payments behind it.
Withholding certificates to collect
| Received | Tenant | Unit | Received (net) | Rent (gross) | Withheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Oct 2026 | Bigco Ltd | A2 | 13,875 | 15,000 | 1,125 (7.5%) |
| 5 Oct 2026 | Acme Ltd | SHOP1 | 27,000 | 30,000 | 3,000 (10%) |
Landlords abroad and their agents
Thirty percent, payment by payment, with the deadline beside it.
Since 1 July 2026, a landlord living abroad owes 30% of gross rent from residential and commercial property. If they file themselves, it is due by the 20th. If a resident agent collects the rent, the agent withholds 30% of each payment and remits it within five working days.
| Received | Tenant | Unit | Rent | Withhold 30% | Remit by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 2026 | Jane Wanjiku | A1 | 15,000 | 4,500 | 8 Oct 2026 |
| 2 Oct 2026 | Peter Otieno | A2 | 12,000 | 3,600 | 9 Oct 2026 |
| 5 Oct 2026 | Acme Ltd | SHOP1 | 30,000 | 9,000 | 12 Oct 2026 |
Deadlines skip weekends and public holidays: rent received on 16 October 2026 is due on the 26th, because the 20th is Mashujaa Day.
What Daftari calculates
The right tax for each landlord, set once.
| Landlord | Tax | On | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lives in Kenya | 7.5% Monthly Rental Income tax | Residential rent | 20th of the next month |
| Lives abroad, files own return | 30% Non-Resident Rental Income Tax, final | All rent, residential and commercial | 20th of the next month |
| Lives abroad, rent collected by an agent | 30% withholding, final | Each rent payment | 5 working days after each payment |
| Any landlord with a company tenant who withholds | Tenant deducts 7.5%, 10% or 30% | Grossed up from the net received | Credited, with certificates listed |
Compared
What a spreadsheet leaves to you.
| Task | Spreadsheet by hand | Daftari |
|---|---|---|
| Read M-Pesa PDF and Paybill/Till statements | Copy and paste | Automatic |
| Match masked numbers (2547******222) | Guesswork | Phone, name, account and amount together |
| Remember who pays for whom | In someone's head | Learned from each confirmation |
| One payment covering two units | Split by hand | Split automatically |
| Resident, abroad and agent-withheld regimes | Separate workbooks | One setting per landlord |
| Withholding deadlines per payment | Calendar reminders | Listed, holidays skipped, overdue flagged |
| Tenants who withhold tax themselves | Often missed | Grossed up, credited, certificates listed |
| Nil-return months | Easy to forget | Shown every month |
| Proof behind each figure | Hunt through files | Every figure traces to its payments |
| Many landlords, many staff | Shared files | One account, roles for staff and clients |
Your clients' data
Built for the people who sign the returns.
Statements are not kept
The file and its password are used once to read the transactions, then discarded. Only the transactions and a fingerprint of the file are stored.
Roles, not shared passwords
Owners, staff and read-only viewers per organisation. Give a landlord a view of their own figures and nothing more.
Every decision recorded
Each confirmed payment and each change of tax status is logged with who made it.
Sign in your way
Email and password, or your Google or Microsoft account. Daftari never sends email, so invites and resets are one-time codes your organisation's owner hands over.
Pricing
Priced by the landlords you look after.
Solo
A landlord doing their own
KES 990 / month
1 landlord
Practice
Accountants and small agencies
KES 4,900 / month
Up to 15 landlords
Firm
Larger practices and agencies
KES 14,900 / month
Up to 60 landlords
Every plan includes all tax regimes, unlimited statements and units, and staff and client accounts. Pay a year ahead and get two months free. Pay by M-Pesa or card through Paystack. New organisations get a 30-day free trial with up to five landlords, no payment needed.
What is coming
Built with the pilot, in the order pilots ask for.
Live now
- M-Pesa PDF and Paybill/Till statements
- Matching with learned payers
- MRI, non-resident tax and agent withholding
- Tenant withholding and certificates
- Rent-roll import, roles, Google and Microsoft sign-in
Next
- Bank statements by CSV and Excel
- Detection of M-Pesa settlement sweeps into bank accounts
- KRA e-invoices (eTIMS) for every payment
Later
- Filing to eRITS through KRA's Gava Connect
- MT940 business bank statements
- Search for homes in plain English, from verified vacancies
Founding pilot
Free for 12 months. Then a founding price, fixed for life.
We are looking for accountants, tax agents and letting agents to run three filing cycles with us. We set you up, rent roll and first statement included, and your requests shape what comes next. We ask for real statements, a 15-minute call every two weeks, and honest feedback.
