What you need before you generate an ETR receipt
Before you can generate an ETR receipt, three things must be in place: an active KRA PIN, registration on eTIMS or a TIMS-compliant device, and the sale details themselves. With those ready, generating the receipt is mostly a matter of entering the items and letting the system sign and transmit it.
The part that makes a receipt an ETR receipt rather than a plain slip is the control unit. It signs the invoice and gives it a unique number, then sends it to KRA. You do not do this by hand; the device or software does it the moment you finalise the sale. Your job is to capture the sale correctly.
How you generate an ETR receipt then depends on your setup. A TIMS device prints it at the counter. eTIMS software issues it from a phone, tablet or computer. The eTIMS taxpayer portal can produce one through a browser. All routes end in the same compliant receipt, so pick the one that fits how you sell.
How to generate an ETR receipt, step by step
These steps cover the software route, which is the most common today. A TIMS device follows the same logic with its own buttons.
- 1
Confirm your KRA PIN and eTIMS access
Make sure your PIN is active and your business is registered on eTIMS. Without this, the receipt cannot be signed or transmitted.
- 2
Open your eTIMS-ready till or app
Log in to your POS app, the eTIMS portal or your device. This is where you will enter the sale.
- 3
Enter the items and amounts
Add each item or service with its price. Set VAT where the standard rate applies; leave it off if you are not VAT-registered.
- 4
Capture the buyer PIN for B2B sales
If the customer is a business claiming input VAT, enter their KRA PIN so the receipt is valid for their claim.
- 5
Finalise the sale to sign and transmit
Completing the sale triggers the control unit to sign the invoice, assign a CU number and send it to KRA.
- 6
Print or share the receipt
Print the receipt with its QR code, or share it digitally. The QR code lets the buyer verify it on KRA instantly.
What goes wrong when generating an ETR receipt
Trying before eTIMS registration is active
You cannot generate a valid ETR receipt without active eTIMS access. Sort the registration first, then issue receipts.
Forgetting the buyer PIN on business sales
A B2B receipt without the buyer PIN may not support their input-VAT claim, sending them back to you for a corrected one.
Mishandling offline sales
If your tool cannot record offline and sync later, an outage stops you generating receipts. Choose one that queues and transmits when the line returns.
Editing a receipt after it is issued
A signed ETR receipt should not be quietly altered. If something is wrong, issue a credit note rather than tampering with the original.
A boutique owner issues her first ETR receipt
A boutique owner in Nairobi’s CBD signs up for eTIMS and wants to generate her first ETR receipt for a customer buying a dress at KES 4,500. She opens her till app, adds the dress, and because she is VAT-registered the system shows KES 3,879 taxable value and KES 621 VAT.
The customer is an individual, so there is no buyer PIN to enter. She finalises the sale, the control unit signs and transmits the invoice, and a receipt prints with a CU invoice number and a QR code. The whole thing took seconds longer than her old plain slip used to.
A week later a corporate client buys uniforms and asks for a receipt they can claim. This time she enters the company PIN before finalising, and the receipt is ready for their input-VAT claim. Same process, one extra field, and both customers walk away with a valid ETR receipt.
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 generates ETR receipts automatically
With Veira, generating an ETR receipt is not a separate task; it happens as you ring up the sale. You add the items, the system calculates VAT, signs the invoice through eTIMS and prints a receipt with the control number and QR code already in place.
For business customers, you capture the buyer PIN at checkout in one tap, so the receipt is claim-ready the first time. There is no second trip and no corrected receipt to chase.
Because Veira works offline, you can still generate receipts during an outage. They queue locally and transmit to KRA the moment the connection returns, so a weak network never stops you serving a customer.
Frequently asked questions
How do I generate an ETR receipt in Kenya?
Can I generate an ETR receipt from my phone?
What do I need before generating an ETR receipt?
Do I need internet to generate an ETR receipt?
How do I add VAT when generating a receipt?
What if I make a mistake on an ETR receipt?
Do I include the buyer PIN every time?
How does the customer confirm the receipt is valid?
Generating an ETR receipt comes down to a simple chain: enter the sale, let the control unit sign and transmit it, and hand over a receipt with a QR code. The method is your choice, but the result is the same compliant document. Run the readiness checker to confirm your setup, or book a free demo and generate ETR receipts automatically on every sale.