eTIMS for Lodges in Kenya: The Complete 2026 Guide

A lodge or safari camp sells accommodation, meals, drinks and activities, often as full-board packages, to a mix of direct guests, foreign tourists and bookings through tour operators and agents. Each element is a sale eTIMS expects recorded with the correct treatment, and the package nature means one stay can span several tax lines.

Two things make a lodge distinct: much of the business comes through agents and operators who need a compliant invoice carrying their PIN to claim the cost, and lodges are frequently in remote areas with unreliable connectivity, so the invoicing system must keep working offline and sync to KRA later.

VAT and levies for a lodge. Accommodation and restaurant services are generally standard-rated for VAT, and the hospitality and tourism sector can attract specific levies. A VAT-registered lodge charges VAT on the eTIMS invoice and reflects any applicable levy, while the treatment of foreign-guest and agent bookings can differ. A lodge below the VAT threshold still issues compliant non-VAT eTIMS invoices.

Because tourism levies, rates and the treatment of agent and foreign bookings are nuanced, set each item correctly and confirm the current VAT rate and any applicable levy with KRA, as they change.

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

- Full-board packages span accommodation, meals and activities, each with its own treatment

- Most bookings come through agents and operators who need the buyer PIN

- Remote locations mean invoicing must work offline and sync to KRA later

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

Deadlines and penalties for lodges: 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 lodge 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 lodges. 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 lodge 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 lodge 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 lodge in Kenya. Work through it in order.

1. 1

   Confirm the lodge KRA PIN and VAT status

   Ensure an active KRA PIN and register for VAT and any applicable levy, since accommodation and meals are generally standard-rated.

2. 2

   Break packages into the right treatment

   Set up accommodation, meals, drinks and activities each with their correct VAT and any levy so a full-board stay invoices correctly.

3. 3

   Capture PINs for agents and operators

   For tour operators, agents and corporate bookings, capture the KRA PIN so the invoice supports their claim.

4. 4

   Handle foreign-guest treatment

   Apply the correct treatment for foreign guests and agent bookings, confirming the current position with KRA.

5. 5

   Set up offline-first operation

   Confirm the system keeps issuing invoices offline at a remote location and transmits to KRA when connectivity returns.

6. 6

   Reconcile and go live

   Tie payments across channels to each booking, then go live across the lodge.

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 lodge 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 lodge 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 lodge 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 lodges. 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 lodge, 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 lodges, 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 lodge 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 lodge reconciles as one.