How eTIMS applies to individuals
Many people in business in Kenya operate as individuals or sole proprietors, using their personal KRA PIN rather than a company. eTIMS still applies: if you are earning business income, you record it through compliant eTIMS invoices under your PIN. The common misconception is that being a small, one-person operation means you are outside the system.
It does not. Being below the VAT threshold changes the type of invoice you issue, non-VAT rather than VAT, but you still record income through eTIMS. This matters because your business customers need a compliant invoice to claim what they spend with you, and your own income and expenses are validated the same way. So a sole proprietor or freelancer issues compliant invoices under their PIN, like any business. Confirm your specific obligation with KRA.
For a sole trader the business and the person share a PIN, which makes everything simpler and one thing harder: the boundary between business and personal is a matter of record-keeping rather than of separate legal identity. Nothing enforces it for you, so it has to be enforced by how you record things.
The practical version is to make the separation visible before you need it. A dedicated account or till number for business takings, and a consistent habit of recording business expenses as they happen, means that when you need to show what the business earned and spent you are reading records rather than reconstructing them from memory and a mixed bank statement.
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How an individual stays compliant
A practical path for a Kenyan business.
- 1
Use your KRA PIN
Record your business income through compliant eTIMS invoices under your personal KRA PIN.
- 2
Issue the right invoice for your status
Below the VAT threshold, issue non-VAT eTIMS invoices; if registered, issue VAT invoices.
- 3
Capture business-customer PINs
When a business customer needs to claim, capture its KRA PIN so the invoice supports the claim.
- 4
Keep simple, clean records
Keep your sales and any compliant supplier invoices organised so your income and expenses are supported.
- 5
Separate business money from personal money
Use a distinct account or till for business takings. It is not a legal requirement of being a sole trader; it is what makes your figures defensible later.
- 6
Record expenses as they happen
Deductions you cannot document are deductions you cannot claim, and a sole trader’s expenses are the ones most often lost to memory.
Common mistakes to avoid
Assuming small means exempt
Being a one-person business does not remove the requirement. You issue non-VAT eTIMS invoices below the threshold.
Not invoicing business customers compliantly
Business customers need a compliant invoice to claim. Issue one rather than a plain receipt.
Keeping no records
Even a sole proprietor benefits from clean records of income and expenses. Keep them organised.
A freelancer gets compliant
A freelance designer in Nairobi assumed that, as a one-person operation below the VAT threshold, eTIMS did not apply to her, until a corporate client asked for a compliant invoice.
She started issuing non-VAT eTIMS invoices under her personal PIN through a compliant tool, capturing client PINs so they could claim.
Her income was now recorded compliantly and her corporate clients could claim her fees, all under her own PIN as a sole proprietor.
Trading without eTIMS-compliant tax invoices risks KRA penalties, blocked VAT input claims for your customers, and receipts a business buyer cannot expense.
Veira signs every sale to KRA eTIMS automatically, so each receipt is compliant the moment it prints, with no separate device to reconcile.
How Veira makes this simple
Veira is built for Kenyan businesses. It issues compliant KRA eTIMS invoices automatically on every sale, applies the right tax treatment per item, captures the buyer KRA PIN, keeps your records reconciled and ready for filing, and reconciles M-Pesa and Pochi payments to each sale.
It runs on a free handheld terminal or the phone you already own, keeps working offline, and runs from KES 2,999 a month, terminal included on annual billing and a 30-day money-back guarantee. See how Veira works, or book a free demo.
Frequently asked questions
Do individuals and sole proprietors need eTIMS?
Which PIN does a sole proprietor use?
Do I charge VAT as an individual?
Why do my clients need a compliant invoice?
Does Veira handle this for me?
Where do I confirm the current rules?
eTIMS for individuals is straightforward once you know the essentials, and with a compliant system like Veira the day-to-day part is handled for you. See how Veira works, or book a free demo. Reconcile recorded sales against transmitted invoices each month, and most of the compliance question answers itself.
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