The short answer
eTIMS is how KRA receives invoice details at the moment a sale happens and returns a validated electronic tax invoice, replacing the older approach that required a hardware device on the counter.
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 it replaced
Before eTIMS, a Kenyan business that had to issue tax invoices bought a device. An electronic tax register with a control unit sat next to the till, and the device was the compliance. It cost money up front, it broke, and when it broke the business had a problem it could not solve itself. Software-based invoicing removes the device from the middle of that arrangement. What is being validated is the invoice data, not a box on the counter.
What actually happens when you issue an invoice
The sequence is short. Your system captures what was sold and to whom. Those details go to KRA. What comes back is a validated invoice carrying something that ties it to the transmission. You give that to the customer. The part most businesses underestimate is the middle step, because it is the one that depends on a working connection and on the details being right at the moment of the sale rather than reconstructed afterwards.
Why it matters commercially, not just legally
The compliance framing gets the attention, but the commercial consequence is the one that changes behaviour. When your customer is a business that intends to claim what it bought from you, the document you give it determines whether it can. A supplier who cannot issue a proper invoice becomes a supplier whose prices are effectively higher, because the buyer absorbs a cost it would otherwise recover. That is why hardware shops and wholesalers felt this before anyone else did.
Common questions
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.
Related questions
Sources
- officialeTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System) — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
- officialeTIMS taxpayer portal — 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
- 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
- officialKenya Revenue Authority — Kenya Revenue Authority, checked 2026-09-18
Further reading on Veira
- What is eTIMS? A plain-English guideA longer walkthrough of the same ground
Veira publishes this site. These are its own pages, offered because they cover the same ground, not as independent recommendations.