How to Deregister a Company in Kenya through eCitizen.

It is very evident from the people around us that some businesses shut down due to certain different reasons. For some, it’s a lack of funds for the company to continue operations, the death of the owner/partner, or voluntary strike-off among others.

Before you start the termination process, ensure the business is linked to the e-citizen portal.

Here are the steps someone takes in order to deregister their company:

1. The company is expected to have filed its secretarial annual returns up to date. These are mainly the changes that have occurred within the company in terms of shareholding or the location of the company.
2. The company should then convey a meeting of the board of directors which should be held to pass a resolution to dissolve the company.
3. The company then makes an application to the registrar of companies in a prescribed form. The details in the form should be stating the reasons that the company is shutting down its business affairs.

• The application is then reviewed for verification.

5. Once the application reaches the registrar of companies, the de-registration of the business is published in the Kenya Gazette to show that the company is intending a dissolution. The notice takes 3 months. This is so that any outstanding claims that the business owes to creditors are settled in that period.
6. If all claims are settled or if no claims are brought forward, the registrar then proceeds to remove the company from the Companies Register of Kenya. This process could take 6-12 months.
7. Then, the company files for the closure of KRA accounts for the outstanding period.
8. The company’s KRA pin and other taxing obligations like VAT are de-registered. Then the company owners apply for the deregistration of the company’s pin, this is after settling all tax arrears to the KRA.

By Joy Ngoiri