eTIMS for Event Planners in Kenya: The Complete 2026 Guide

An event planner earns a planning or coordination fee, but a large part of an event budget is pass-through: venue hire, catering, decor, entertainment and hire items paid to other vendors. Separating the planner's own taxable fee from the vendor costs that pass through is the central issue for an event planner on eTIMS.

Events are booked well in advance with deposits and milestone payments, each of which is a sale that should issue a compliant invoice. Corporate clients, who commission conferences, launches and staff events, need the planner's invoice to carry their KRA PIN to claim the cost.

VAT treatment for an event planner. Event planning and coordination services are standard-rated for VAT, so a VAT-registered planner charges VAT on the planning fee and shows it on the eTIMS invoice. Pass-through vendor costs are treated separately from the planner's fee, and how they are presented depends on whether the planner contracts those vendors as principal or arranges them as agent for the client.

Because the principal-versus-agent treatment of pass-through vendor costs is nuanced, keep the planning fee distinct, set it to the correct treatment, and confirm the current VAT position for your model with KRA or your accountant.

Running a event planner brings its own compliance demands. The specific ones that matter for eTIMS are:

- The planner's taxable income is the planning fee, distinct from pass-through vendor costs

- Events are booked with deposits and milestones, each a compliant invoice

- Corporate clients need the planner invoice to carry their PIN

Get these right and eTIMS runs quietly in the background of your event planner. Get them wrong and you face rejected invoices, disallowed expenses for your customers, and exposure during a KRA review.

Deadlines and penalties for event planners: KRA has phased eTIMS in, and from 2026 the income-validation rules mean an expense not supported by a compliant invoice can be disallowed. For a event planner that cuts both ways. Your own purchases need compliant supplier invoices to be deductible, and your customers need a compliant invoice from you to claim what they spend with you. Non-compliance can attract penalties under the Tax Procedures Act, disallowed input VAT, and lost business from customers who insist on a valid invoice.

There is no separate eTIMS deadline that singles out event planners. The practical answer is that you should already be issuing compliant invoices, because the cost of not doing so, in penalties and lost deductible expenses, grows the longer you wait. Confirm the current deadlines and penalty amounts with KRA, as they change.

What a event planner needs to be eTIMS-ready:

- An active KRA PIN and the correct tax registration for your turnover

- Every product or service mapped to its correct tax treatment

- A reliable way to capture the buyer KRA PIN for business customers

- A compliant system that issues invoices, works offline, and reconciles M-Pesa, so compliance happens as you trade

Record-keeping is the other half of the job. Beyond issuing invoices, a event planner should keep its eTIMS records, and the supplier invoices behind its own purchases, organised and reconciled. KRA can review records going back several years, so the goal is a system where every sale and purchase is already captured and searchable rather than reconstructed from receipts in a drawer. That is the difference between a quick review and a stressful one.

A practical path for a event planner in Kenya. Work through it in order.

1. 1

   Confirm the planner KRA PIN and VAT status

   Ensure an active KRA PIN and register for VAT if above the threshold, since planning and coordination services are standard-rated.

2. 2

   Separate the fee from vendor costs

   Set up billing so the planning fee is recorded distinctly from pass-through venue, catering and vendor costs.

3. 3

   Record deposits and milestones

   Set bookings so the deposit and each milestone issues its own compliant eTIMS invoice.

4. 4

   Capture corporate-client PINs

   For corporate events, capture the company KRA PIN so the invoice supports their claim.

5. 5

   Reconcile across clients and vendors

   Tie client payments and vendor settlements to each event so the books reconcile.

6. 6

   Keep records reconciled and file

   Maintain reconciled eTIMS records so filing summarises data you already hold.

7. 7

   Train whoever rings up a sale

   Compliance only holds if the people taking payment use the system every time. Show staff how to issue a compliant invoice, when to capture a buyer PIN, and how to handle refunds with a credit note, so no sale at your event planner slips outside eTIMS.

8. 8

   Keep records reconciled, then file from real data

   Reconcile sales against M-Pesa, cash and bank as you go, so at filing time your return is a summary of records you already hold rather than a month-end reconstruction. This is where a event planner saves the most time and avoids errors.

9. 9

   Confirm the current rules with KRA

   Rates, thresholds, exemptions and deadlines change. Before relying on a specific figure, confirm the current position for your event planner at kra.go.ke or with your tax adviser, so your invoices stay correct as the rules move.

Veira is built for Kenyan businesses like event planners. It issues a compliant KRA eTIMS invoice automatically on every sale, applies the right tax treatment per item, captures the buyer KRA PIN for business customers, and reconciles M-Pesa and Pochi payments to each sale. It runs on a free handheld terminal or the phone you already own, and keeps working offline, recording sales locally and transmitting to KRA when the connection returns.

For a event planner, that means compliance happens as you trade, not as a separate evening of paperwork. Onboarding takes a weekend, with local support to help you switch from whatever you use now. See how Veira works for event planners, or book a free demo. It runs from KES 2,999 a month, with a free terminal included and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Switching is low-risk. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, no expensive hardware to buy, and the system runs on a phone you already own, so a event planner can move from manual or non-compliant invoicing to fully compliant KRA records in a weekend. If you sell across more than one location or counter, Veira keeps every outlet on the same compliant system and the same reporting, so the whole event planner reconciles as one.