What every Kenyan business needs to know about eTIMS.
What is eTIMS?
eTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System) is KRA's platform for real-time digital tax-invoice generation and management. Every compliant sale generates a digitally signed receipt with a QR code, a unique Control Unit Invoice Number (CUIN), and a verification URL.
The goal is to reduce VAT fraud, improve collection visibility, and create an auditable trail of commercial transactions. For a business it means an invoice is only valid support for an input VAT claim or an expense deduction if it was generated through eTIMS. A printed copy is fine. An invoice that never went through eTIMS is not.
The rollout
A timeline,
not a maybe.
KRA launches eTIMS for large taxpayers
eTIMS extended to medium taxpayers
eTIMS mandatory for all VAT-registered businesses
Ongoing enforcement and iTax integration roadmap
Your obligations
Four things KRA expects of you.
Issue eTIMS receipts
Every sale has to produce a KRA-validated receipt carrying a QR code, a control unit invoice number and a signature.
Capture supplier receipts
Businesses must retain KRA receipts from their suppliers to support input VAT claims and expense deductions.
Reconcile with iTax
Receipts are linked to your KRA PIN and must reconcile with the VAT returns you file through iTax.
Stay audit-ready
KRA can ask for receipt records going back years. Finding them in a paper system, years later, is the part nobody plans for.
Rasmi takes the receipt side off your desk.
Capture, check, review and post every eTIMS receipt, without a spreadsheet and without typing a single field.
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