How to issue a KRA-compliant eTIMS invoice

The mandatory fields on every eTIMS invoice

Every compliant eTIMS invoice must show the following: the seller's registered business name and KRA PIN, an internal invoice serial number, the date and time of the sale, each line item with its description, quantity, unit price, tax rate code and total. The invoice must show subtotals by tax rate and the total amount including tax.

On top of the fields you produce, two pieces of data come back from KRA after transmission: the unique control number (sometimes called the CU invoice number) that KRA assigns, and the QR code that any party can scan to verify the invoice through the KRA portal. Without these last two, the invoice is not a valid eTIMS invoice; it is a draft.

• Seller name and KRA PIN
• Invoice serial number
• Date and time
• Buyer PIN (mandatory for B2B; optional for B2C)
• Line items with description, quantity, unit price, tax rate, amount
• Tax-rate subtotals and total
• KRA control number (assigned by KRA)
• QR code (issued by KRA)

B2C vs B2B: when the buyer PIN matters

In a business-to-consumer (B2C) sale, you are selling to an individual who is not buying for tax-deductible reasons. The buyer PIN field is not mandatory. A retail shop, a restaurant, a salon and a kiosk almost always issue B2C invoices.

In a business-to-business (B2B) sale, you are selling to another business that will claim the cost or the input VAT on its own return. The buyer PIN is mandatory. Without it, the buyer cannot deduct the expense or claim VAT, regardless of how clear the rest of the invoice is. Capturing the buyer PIN at checkout is the single most common omission, and it is the cause of most "reissue this invoice" requests from corporate customers.

If a B2C customer asks you to issue them an invoice with their KRA PIN so they can claim the expense for their own business, you treat it as a B2B sale and capture the PIN. The buyer's position decides B2B/B2C, not whether they walked in or arrived by appointment.

Tax rate codes (the most common cause of rejection)

Each item on the invoice carries a tax rate code: 16% standard VAT, 8% (where it applies under specific provisions), 0% zero-rated, exempt, or out-of-scope. The codes are not interchangeable, and KRA validates them. A standard-rated item invoiced at 0% misstates VAT and is treated as an error; an exempt item invoiced at 16% over-collects VAT from the buyer.

If you sell a mix of rates (a pharmacy selling exempt prescription medicines and standard-rated over-the-counter products, for example), the invoice must break out the items by rate. Your eTIMS channel does this automatically if the items are coded correctly in your product file; it cannot fix a wrong rate code.

Delivery: how the buyer gets the invoice

Once the invoice is signed and transmitted, KRA accepts several formats for delivery to the buyer: a printed slip, a PDF emailed to them, a QR code on screen they can scan, a WhatsApp message with a link, or any combination. The format is your choice; what matters is that the buyer can verify the control number and QR code against KRA's portal.

For B2B buyers, a PDF or printed copy is the practical default because the buyer's accounts team needs a file to attach to their expense record. For walk-in B2C buyers, a printed slip or a QR-code receipt sent by WhatsApp covers most cases.

Why precision matters under the regulations

Under the Tax Procedures (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations issued as Legal Notice No. 64 of 2024, an invoice that misses a mandatory field is not a compliant invoice. KRA can disallow it; the buyer can lose their deduction. The penalty for issuing a non-compliant invoice runs up to KES 1 million or 10% of the tax involved, whichever is higher.

From January 2026, KRA validates declared income and expenses against eTIMS data. A mismatch between what is on the invoice and what is in the underlying KRA record is visible during that check, so getting the fields right at the moment of sale is far cheaper than fixing them later.

Issuing a compliant invoice in five steps

1. Capture the buyer correctly. Confirm whether the sale is B2C or B2B. For B2B, capture the buyer KRA PIN before you ring it up, not after.
2. Pick the right tax rate per line. Use the correct code for each item: 16% standard, 0% zero-rated, exempt, or out-of-scope. Do not default everything to standard.
3. Submit and wait for the control number. Transmit the invoice; do not hand the buyer a copy until you have the KRA control number and QR code back.
4. Deliver the invoice in a usable format. A printed slip for walk-in customers; a PDF or shared link for B2B buyers whose accountants need to file it.
5. Store your copy. Keep a copy of every invoice you issue. KRA expects you to be able to produce them on request for the retention period in the regulations.

How Veira handles this

Veira fills every mandatory field as the sale is rung up: your PIN, the serial number, the date, the item codes with their correct tax rates, the totals, and the KRA control number and QR code returned by eTIMS. For B2B sales, the buyer PIN is captured at the checkout step, so reissue requests for missing PINs disappear from your inbox.