The short answer
Whether a business in this trade has to issue eTIMS invoices follows from the rules that apply to any Kenyan business, not from the trade itself; the rules on who must comply are what decide it. What the trade changes is the shape of the job. Consumer orders are receipt trade, but business buyers ordering online still need a compliant invoice, and marketplace and courier settlement statements have to reconcile to the sales records.
A business selling online through a website, marketplace or social media, delivering to customers.
How stock behaves in this trade
Inventory held against orders that arrive unpredictably, with returns and failed deliveries adding a reverse flow that most small operations never record properly. The usual lines are goods sold online and delivered, marketplace listings, social media orders and subscription boxes.
What invoicing actually looks like here
Consumer orders are receipt trade, but business buyers ordering online still need a compliant invoice, and marketplace and courier settlement statements have to reconcile to the sales records.
What tends to go wrong
- Failed deliveries and returns
- Orders across several platforms in different places
- Payment on delivery reconciliation
- Stock committed to orders that fall through
Customers here usually pay by m-pesa, card, payment on delivery and marketplace settlement.
How customers pay in this trade
Payment in a ecommerce business usually comes through m-pesa, card, payment on delivery and marketplace settlement. That mix decides how hard reconciliation is: every separate channel is a separate record that has to agree with the sales it paid for, and the trades that struggle most are the ones running three or four at once without anything joining them up.
Compliance angles that apply to this trade
- vat registration
- digital service tax
- invoice contents
- customer pin
- delivery records
What the rules say
This page explains how a requirement generally works. It is not tax advice, and it cannot account for the specifics of any one business. For a position you intend to rely on, confirm with KRA directly or with a registered tax agent.
Tax rules in Kenya change with each Finance Act and with regulations made during the year. Before acting on any figure, deadline or threshold, check the current position on KRA's own website.
What we are not stating here. Some of the specific requirements relating to this topic have not yet been verified against their primary source by our reviewer, so they are withheld from this page rather than stated from memory. That means you will not find a threshold, rate, deadline or penalty figure below. For those, check KRA directly. Everything else on this page explains how the mechanism works and is not affected.
Common questions
Does a ecommerce business need to issue a tax invoice for every sale?
Consumer orders are receipt trade, but business buyers ordering online still need a compliant invoice, and marketplace and courier settlement statements have to reconcile to the sales records.
What usually goes wrong with records in a ecommerce business?
The recurring problems in this trade are failed deliveries and returns; orders across several platforms in different places; payment on delivery reconciliation; stock committed to orders that fall through. Each of them shows up in the records before it shows up in the bank balance.
How should a ecommerce business keep stock records?
Inventory held against orders that arrive unpredictably, with returns and failed deliveries adding a reverse flow that most small operations never record properly. Records that do not reflect that pattern will not tell you anything useful, whatever system produces them.
How do I know this information is current?
Tax rules in Kenya change with each Finance Act and with regulations made during the year. Before acting on any figure, deadline or threshold, check the current position on KRA's own website.
More for ecommerce businesses
- Who must comply for ecommerce businesses
- Registering for eTIMS for ecommerce businesses
- Choosing an eTIMS channel for ecommerce businesses
- Issuing an eTIMS invoice for ecommerce businesses
- Credit and debit notes for ecommerce businesses
- Expenses and deductibility for ecommerce businesses
- Working offline for ecommerce businesses
- Records and audit for ecommerce businesses
- VAT registration for ecommerce businesses
- Turnover Tax for ecommerce businesses
- What eTIMS costs for ecommerce businesses
- Stock and inventory control for ecommerce businesses
- M-Pesa reconciliation for ecommerce businesses
- Staff and shrinkage for ecommerce businesses
- Choosing a POS system for ecommerce businesses
- Pricing and margin for ecommerce businesses
- Suppliers and purchase records for ecommerce businesses
Related trades
Sources
- officialeTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System) — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialValue Added Tax Act, 2013 (Act No. 35 of 2013) — National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law), checked 2026-09-18
- officialKenya Revenue Authority — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18