If you run a business in Kenya, electronic tax invoicing is no longer optional. Since January 2024, KRA has required all taxpayers — including non-VAT-registered traders, freelancers and professionals — to issue invoices through the electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS). And from the 2026 Year of Income, the stakes rise again: income and expenses you declare must be supported by valid electronic tax invoices.
What changes for the 2026 Year of Income
The headline rule is simple: an expense without a valid eTIMS invoice is non-deductible. When you file, KRA expects every declared expense to trace back to an electronic tax invoice from your supplier. Buy stock from a supplier who doesn't issue eTIMS invoices, and that cost may not reduce your taxable income — you effectively pay tax on money you already spent.
Penalties are serious: non-compliance can attract penalties of up to KES 1 million or 10% of the tax involved — and the silent penalty of disallowed expenses often costs more.
What a compliant invoice contains
A valid electronic tax invoice carries your KRA PIN, invoice identifiers, date and time of issue, item details, gross and tax amounts where relevant, a QR code for verification, and the buyer's PIN when the buyer intends to claim the expense or input VAT.
The four ways to get on eTIMS
- eTIMS Online Portal — browser-based; fits service businesses issuing fewer than ~50 invoices a month.
- eTIMS Lite / app — mobile and desktop app; comfortable up to a few hundred invoices monthly.
- Multi-Paypoint edition — for businesses running multiple branches or cashier points.
- OSCU / VSCU integration — the API route that connects your existing POS or ERP directly to KRA, so every sale fiscalises automatically. This is the right answer for busy retail.
Which route should your business take?
If you sell a handful of invoices a month, the portal or Lite app costs nothing but your time. The moment you run a till — a shop, restaurant, pharmacy, hardware — manual invoicing becomes a bottleneck and an error factory. An integrated POS that fiscalises each receipt in the background is the difference between compliance being automatic and compliance being a nightly chore.
How Kaziware helps
We integrate POS and ERP systems with eTIMS end-to-end — from assessment, through OSCU/VSCU certification against your sales system, to staff training and support. We also supply KRA-type-approved fiscal devices and the QuickSell retail suite with eTIMS built into the sales flow. Most integrations complete within days, not months.
Need a hand with this?
Talk to Kaziware — free discovery call, honest advice, no obligation.
WhatsApp us →This article is general information, not tax advice. Requirements evolve — confirm specifics for your situation with KRA (kra.go.ke) or your tax advisor.