Where purchase orders sit in eTIMS
A purchase order is an internal document: your request to a supplier to provide goods or services at an agreed price. It is part of good buying discipline, but it is not itself an eTIMS tax document. The eTIMS event on the buying side is the compliant invoice your supplier issues to you.
This matters because your own expenses and input VAT depend on receiving compliant supplier invoices issued to your KRA PIN. A purchase order on its own does not support a deduction; the supplier's compliant invoice does. So the discipline is to raise a PO to control the purchase, then ensure the supplier issues a compliant eTIMS invoice against it, with your PIN, that you keep on record. Confirm specifics with KRA.
Get this right and it runs quietly in the background of your business. Get it wrong and you risk rejected invoices, disallowed expenses for your customers, and exposure during a KRA review under the Tax Procedures Act. Confirm the current rules and any penalty amounts with KRA, as they change.
Compliance is not extra admin if the system does it for you on every transaction.
How to run purchases so eTIMS holds up
A practical path for a Kenyan business. Work through it in order.
- 1
Raise a purchase order to control the buy
Use a PO to agree what you are buying, the quantity and the price, so the purchase is controlled before goods arrive.
- 2
Give the supplier your KRA PIN
So the supplier can issue a compliant invoice to your PIN, which is what supports your deduction and any input VAT reclaim.
- 3
Receive and check the compliant invoice
When goods arrive, match the supplier's compliant eTIMS invoice to the PO, checking quantities, prices and tax.
- 4
Keep the invoice on record
Retain the compliant supplier invoice, matched to the PO, so your expenses and input VAT are supported in a review.
- 5
Keep reconciled records
Reconcile what you issue and receive as you go, so any reporting and filing summarise records you already hold rather than a month-end reconstruction. KRA can review records going back several years.
- 6
Confirm the current rules with KRA
Rates, thresholds, exemptions and deadlines change. Before relying on a specific figure, confirm the current position at kra.go.ke or with your tax adviser.
Common mistakes to avoid
Treating a PO as a tax document
A purchase order is a request to buy, not an eTIMS invoice. Your deduction relies on the supplier's compliant invoice, not the PO.
Not giving suppliers your PIN
Without your PIN on the invoice, the purchase does not support your input VAT reclaim cleanly. Give suppliers your PIN.
Paying without a compliant invoice
Paying a supplier who does not issue a compliant invoice risks the expense being disallowed. Insist on a compliant invoice.
Waiting for a deadline before getting compliant
Every uncompliant transaction is a gap you have to explain later. Getting compliant now is cheaper than catching up under pressure.
Relying on a system that cannot work offline
Connectivity is not guaranteed everywhere in Kenya. Use a system that records offline and transmits to KRA when the connection returns, so you never fall out of compliance during an outage.
A restaurant tightens its buying
A restaurant in Kisumu raised purchase orders for stock but often paid suppliers who gave only a delivery note, not a compliant invoice. At tax time, several of those expenses were questioned.
The restaurant kept the PO discipline but added one rule: no payment without a compliant supplier invoice issued to its KRA PIN, matched to the PO.
Its expenses now hold up because every purchase is supported by a compliant invoice, and the PO-to-invoice match keeps the buying side tidy.
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 handles this for you
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 for business customers, 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 with a free terminal and a 30-day money-back guarantee. See how Veira works, or book a free demo.
Frequently asked questions
Is a purchase order an eTIMS document?
Why do supplier invoices matter for eTIMS?
Do I need to give my PIN to suppliers?
Can I match purchase orders to invoices in Veira?
What if a supplier will not issue a compliant invoice?
Does Veira handle this automatically?
How much does eTIMS-compliant software cost?
eTIMS and purchase orders comes down to recording the right thing, the right way, through a compliant system, and Veira does exactly that without extra work. See how Veira works, or book a free demo. Always confirm current KRA rules and rates at kra.go.ke, as they can change.