The eTIMS channels
There is no single way to issue an electronic tax invoice, and the choice matters more than most businesses expect. A browser page, software on a counter machine, a USSD shortcode and an integration into a system you already run are not four versions of the same thing: they assume different invoice volumes, different connectivity and different amounts of someone's attention.
Channels
eTIMS OnlineThe browser route. You sign in to the taxpayer portal and issue invoices from there, with nothing installed on the machine you are using.eTIMS ClientSoftware 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.eTIMS LiteThe lighter route, which KRA makes reachable through eCitizen as well as through USSD and a mobile solution. Aimed at businesses issuing few invoices rather than at a busy till.eTIMS Lite on USSDThe USSD route into eTIMS Lite: a shortcode dialled from a phone, with no app and no smartphone required.System-to-system integrationYour 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.OSCU (Online Sales Control Unit)One of the two control units a system-to-system integration is built against. The online variant, which works with the connection up.VSCU (Virtual Sales Control Unit)The other control unit a system-to-system integration is built against. The virtual variant, which is the one that comes up where invoices are handled in bulk.Buyer-initiated invoicingAn arrangement where the buyer raises the invoice rather than the seller. It exists because plenty of real supply relationships have a large buyer and a supplier with no system at all.
Reverse invoicingNamed by KRA alongside buyer-initiated invoicing. No page yet: we have not verified enough about it to write one, and inventing a description of tax software is not something this site does.
eTIMS PayPointNamed as an eTIMS solution. No page yet: we have not verified enough about it to write one, and inventing a description of tax software is not something this site does.
eTIMS Multi-PayPointNamed as an eTIMS solution, for businesses with more than one pay point. No page yet: we have not verified enough about it to write one, and inventing a description of tax software is not something this site does.