NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 15 – Registrations of businesses under the electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) platform will not be extended beyond the March 31, 2024, deadline, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has warned.
KRA says that those firms that would not have registered by then risk not being able to trade due to their inability to submit their digital invoices to the taxman.
The window, however, applies to existing companies, with new ones expected to onboard even after the deadline lapses.
“Because the implication is, if I’m not being given the correct invoice, then as a business I’ll be penalized, meaning that that expense I have rightfully incurred to conduct my business will be disallowed, which will put me at a disadvantage, because now for tax purposes I may end up paying more than was actually expected,” explained eTims rollout lead Caroline Wacuka.
In the new changes, KRA requires all Kenyans owning businesses to sign up for the eTIMS.
Through the platform, firms will be able to generate and transmit invoices directly to the authority, ensuring tax compliance as well as efficiency in tax collection.
Wacuka adds that the new system, which marks a departure from the manual way of receipt, where one would issue a handwritten cash receipt, is vital in enhancing tax through electronic monitoring of tax payments for every taxpayer.
Nonetheless, the authority adds that small businesses will only need to display a record of transactions rather than produce electronic invoices as they work to develop a different system to support their operations.
She rubbishes claims that the eTIMS system is tedious, maintaining that the taxman had simplified the process to ensure that taxpayers don’t struggle with accessing the platform.
”We have rolled out a USSD invoicing solution so that someone even with whatever phone they have can be able to raise an invoice. We have also provided for a simple invoicing solution via your eCitizen profile that you can be able to log into your profile, eCitizen profile, and activate the invoicing module and be able to proceed to raise your invoices,” she asserted.
