The short answer
eTIMS Online is a browser channel with nothing installed and eTIMS Client is software installed on a machine at the business. The choice follows from how your business issues invoices: how many, how fast, and whether the connection holds while you do it.
Side by side
| eTIMS Online | eTIMS Client | |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of thing | A web portal used in a browser, on whatever device has one. | An application installed on a device the business owns, rather than a page in a browser. |
| Runs on | a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, a smartphone | Windows, Android, a laptop, a desktop, a smartphone, a tablet |
| Connection | Needs the connection up | Copes with drops |
| Invoice rhythm | One invoice at a time, typed | Steady, through the trading day |
eTIMS Online
The browser route. You sign in to the taxpayer portal and issue invoices from there, with nothing installed on the machine you are using. Invoices issued deliberately, one at a time, by someone who has a moment to do it. The pattern fits a service business or a wholesaler invoicing after the fact better than a shop invoicing at the till.
eTIMS Client
Software installed on a machine at the business. KRA documents a Windows option and an Android one, so this covers both a counter PC and a handset. Steady invoicing through the day from a fixed point. It assumes there is a counter and that the counter has a machine on it.
How to choose between them
Our reading, not a rule. Nothing below is a statement of what KRA requires.
eTIMS Online gets awkward when
A counter under pressure: a browser form is slow when someone is waiting. Trading through an outage, because the portal needs the connection to be up. High invoice volume, where re-keying what the till already knows is duplicated work.
eTIMS Client gets awkward when
A business with no machine of its own, where a handset is the only computer. Several branches, because each one is a separate installation to keep current. Anywhere nobody is responsible for updates, which is how a working setup quietly stops working.
What the rules say
Stated by the publisher from the cited KRA material. Our reviewer has not yet re-checked it against the source, so confirm anything you are about to act on with KRA directly.
KRA identifies several categories of eTIMS solution, among them eTIMS Online, the eTIMS Client, eTIMS Lite, system-to-system integration, reverse invoicing and buyer-initiated invoicing. Which one suits a business depends on how it issues invoices rather than on what it sells.
KRA states that taxpayers can onboard themselves, and that registration comes before installing an eTIMS solution rather than after it.
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.
KRA documents eTIMS Client options for Windows and for Android, and makes eTIMS Lite reachable through eCitizen, through USSD and as a mobile solution.
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.
Common questions
Which is better, eTIMS Online or eTIMS Client?
Neither, as a general matter. They assume different invoicing patterns, and the one that suits a business follows from how many invoices it issues and how reliable its connection is.
When would eTIMS Online be the wrong choice?
A counter under pressure: a browser form is slow when someone is waiting.
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
- officialeTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System) — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialeTIMS taxpayer portal — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialKenya Revenue Authority — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18