The short answer
eTIMS Online is a browser channel with nothing installed and System-to-system integration is an integration between your own software and eTIMS. 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 | System-to-system integration | |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of thing | A web portal used in a browser, on whatever device has one. | An integration between a business's existing software and eTIMS, rather than a separate place to go and type. |
| Runs on | a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, a smartphone | Windows, a laptop, a desktop, a server |
| Connection | Needs the connection up | Depends on setup |
| Invoice rhythm | One invoice at a time, typed | Continuous and automatic |
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.
System-to-system integration
Your own software talks to eTIMS directly, so an invoice raised in the system the business already uses becomes an electronic tax invoice without anyone re-typing it. Continuous and automatic. The invoice is a by-product of the sale rather than a separate task someone remembers to do.
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.
System-to-system integration gets awkward when
A business with no existing system, where there is nothing to integrate. Low volume, where the integration costs more than the typing it saves. A setup nobody maintains, because an integration that silently stops is worse than a manual process.
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.
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 System-to-system integration?
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