eTIMS for Travel Agencies in Kenya: The Complete 2026 Guide

A travel agency books flights, hotels and packages, but its own income is the service fee and commission it earns, not the airfare or hotel price that passes through to the airline or hotel. Distinguishing the agency's taxable fee from the pass-through travel cost is the central issue for a travel agency on eTIMS.

Corporate travel is a big part of the business, and companies need the agency's invoice to carry their KRA PIN to claim the service fee and the travel cost they bear. Getting the fee and any pass-through cost presented correctly on a compliant invoice is what keeps corporate accounts and the agency itself clean.

VAT treatment for a travel agency. Travel agency service fees and commission are standard-rated for VAT, so a VAT-registered agency charges VAT on its fee and shows it on the eTIMS invoice. The airfare or hotel cost that passes through to the supplier is treated separately from the agency's fee, and how it is presented depends on whether the agency acts as principal or agent for that supply.

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

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

- The agency's taxable income is the service fee and commission, not the pass-through airfare

- Corporate accounts need the agency invoice to carry their PIN

- Principal-versus-agent treatment of pass-through costs must be handled correctly

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

Deadlines and penalties for travel agencies: 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 travel agency 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 travel agencies. 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 travel agency 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 travel agency 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 travel agency in Kenya. Work through it in order.

1. 1

   Confirm the agency KRA PIN and VAT status

   Ensure an active KRA PIN and register for VAT if above the threshold, since agency service fees and commission are standard-rated.

2. 2

   Separate fees from pass-through travel cost

   Set up billing so the agency's service fee and commission are recorded distinctly from airfare and hotel costs passing through.

3. 3

   Capture corporate-account PINs

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

4. 4

   Issue compliant fee invoices

   Invoice the service fee and commission through compliant eTIMS invoices showing fee and VAT, with pass-through cost presented correctly.

5. 5

   Reconcile across suppliers and payments

   Tie payments and supplier settlements to each booking so the agency reconciles.

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 travel agency 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 travel agency 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 travel agency 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 travel agencies. 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 travel agency, 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 travel agencies, 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 travel agency 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 travel agency reconciles as one.