If you issue invoices or receipts in Kenya, the Kenya Revenue Authority's electronic Tax Invoice Management System, better known as eTIMS, probably already affects you. This guide explains what it is, who needs it and how to connect it to the systems you already use.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. KRA's rules and technical specifications change, so always confirm current requirements with KRA or your tax adviser.
What is eTIMS?
eTIMS is KRA's system for capturing sales and purchase invoice data in real time. Instead of a standalone fiscal device printing a receipt, your invoice details are transmitted to KRA's systems and a compliant invoice, usually with a QR code, is produced. It replaced the older Electronic Tax Register (ETR) and TIMS model.
Why it matters to your business
Three practical reasons make eTIMS more than a box to tick:
- Compliance. Taxpayers in the categories KRA has brought into eTIMS are expected to issue compliant invoices for their sales.
- Deductible expenses. Since the Finance Act 2023 changes, business expenses generally need to be supported by an eTIMS-generated invoice to be claimed as deductible. That affects what your suppliers issue to you as well as what you issue to customers.
- Cleaner books. Once invoices flow automatically, you spend far less time on manual re-entry and month-end clean-up.
The main ways to connect
The right route depends on how you already work.
eTIMS Lite and the web portal
For very small businesses with low volumes, KRA provides simple tools, including a mobile app, USSD and a web portal, to create invoices manually. They work, but each invoice is entered by hand.
OSCU: the Online Sales Control Unit
If your business uses its own POS, ERP or billing system and has reliable internet, the OSCU route connects your software directly to KRA's servers. Your system sends each sale, credit note and stock movement to KRA and receives the data needed to print or share a compliant invoice.
VSCU: the Virtual Sales Control Unit
The VSCU is a locally installed component that your software talks to on your own network. It is useful when connectivity is intermittent or when you want a local component handling signing and queuing before data reaches KRA.
Which route is right depends on your system, your connectivity and your volumes. We assess this at the start of every eTIMS project.
What a good integration does
A compliant integration is more than "send the invoice." In practice it should:
- Map your items to KRA item codes and classifications, and keep them in sync.
- Transmit sales automatically at the point of sale or billing, with no re-keying.
- Handle credit notes and returns, which must also reach KRA correctly.
- Record purchases and stock movements where your setup requires them.
- Survive bad connectivity by queuing transactions and retrying, so a dropped connection never blocks a sale.
- Print or deliver compliant receipts carrying the required eTIMS data.
- Alert you to failures, so rejected invoices are fixed quickly rather than discovered at month-end.
Steps to get started
- List the systems that issue invoices: POS, accounting package, ERP, online store, billing tools.
- Confirm your eTIMS status and category with KRA, and obtain the credentials and device details for testing.
- Choose the integration route: OSCU, VSCU, or a simpler tool if volumes are low.
- Map products and tax codes carefully. Most integration problems start here.
- Test in KRA's sandbox with realistic scenarios: discounts, returns, mixed tax rates, offline periods.
- Train staff on what changes at the till or in billing, and what to do when something fails.
- Go live and monitor, watching the first weeks closely.
Common mistakes
- Treating eTIMS as a once-off setup and ignoring later changes to KRA specifications.
- Poor item mapping that leads to rejected or incorrect invoices.
- No plan for offline periods.
- Forgetting that supplier invoices also need to be eTIMS-compliant if you want to claim the expense.
How Vuvo Labs can help
We integrate eTIMS into existing POS, ERP and custom billing systems and build eTIMS compliance into new software from day one. Our own cloud POS, Fahari POS, is built around it.
If you're not sure where you stand, talk to us about eTIMS. We'll review your setup and recommend the simplest compliant route.