The short answer
Records exist to answer questions later, so the test that matters is not whether you kept something but whether a specific transaction from eight months ago can be found in a few minutes. For general shops specifically, that plays out against how the trade already sells and to whom.
Records and audit for general shops
A few hundred fast-moving lines bought in small quantities from nearby wholesalers, often restocked several times a week, with unga and cooking oil turning fastest. That is the background against which records and audit has to work in this trade.
What invoicing actually looks like here
Nearly every sale is a small cash or M-Pesa transaction to a walk-in customer. A duka that is not VAT-registered still faces the question when a nearby business or a landlord asks for a proper invoice, and when its own suppliers start issuing eTIMS invoices that must be kept for the shop's own 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.
What records are actually for
Records exist to answer questions later, under conditions where memory is not available and the person who knew has left. That framing decides what to keep. If a document would answer "what did we sell, to whom, for how much, and what did it cost us", keep it somewhere retrievable.
Retrievable is the operative word
A box of receipts in the back room technically satisfies keeping records and satisfies nothing else. The test to apply is whether a specific transaction from eight months ago can be found in a few minutes. If not, the records exist but do not work.
Where this goes wrong
- Goods leaving on informal credit that is never written down
- Cash and M-Pesa mixed with household money
- Not knowing real margin after wholesaler price changes
Common questions
Does a general shop need to issue a tax invoice for every sale?
Nearly every sale is a small cash or M-Pesa transaction to a walk-in customer. A duka that is not VAT-registered still faces the question when a nearby business or a landlord asks for a proper invoice, and when its own suppliers start issuing eTIMS invoices that must be kept for the shop's own records.
What usually goes wrong with records in a general shop?
The recurring problems in this trade are goods leaving on informal credit that is never written down; cash and m-pesa mixed with household money; not knowing real margin after wholesaler price changes; stockouts on the fastest lines. Each of them shows up in the records before it shows up in the bank balance.
How should a general shop keep stock records?
A few hundred fast-moving lines bought in small quantities from nearby wholesalers, often restocked several times a week, with unga and cooking oil turning fastest. 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.
Sources
- officialKenya Revenue Authority — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialTax Procedures Act, 2015 (Act No. 29 of 2015) — National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law), checked 2026-09-18
- officialIncome Tax Act (Cap. 470) — National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law), checked 2026-09-18
- officialeTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System) — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialFinance Act, 2023 (Act No. 4 of 2023) — National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law), checked 2026-09-18
- officialTax Procedures (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations, 2024 — Kenya Gazette / Kenya Law, 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
- officialeTIMS taxpayer portal — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18