The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has recently implemented a significant upgrade to its bulk invoice system, specifically designed to cater to high-traffic businesses such as supermarkets and petrol stations.
This enhancement is geared towards facilitating the processing of larger batches of documentation, with the aim of streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency for businesses dealing with substantial transaction volumes.
Commencing on January 1, 2024, businesses are now required to support every purchase or expense with an electronic transaction. This directive has presented a particular challenge for high-traffic businesses, leading to concerns about potential delays in the processing of sales documents.
Earlier warnings from analysts highlighted the compliance challenge posed by the electronic tax invoice’s demand for specific information, including buyer details, particularly for businesses engaged in high-frequency transactions.
Hakamba Wangwe, the Chief Manager of KRA, has affirmed that the upgraded system is adept at efficiently generating, validating, and transmitting a significant number of invoices to KRA within a short timeframe. This addresses the limitations of the existing e-Tims solutions.
The tax invoice generated from e-Tims must encompass crucial details, including the PIN of the registered user, time and date of issuance, serial number of the invoice, buyer’s invoice, total gross and total tax amounts, item code of supplies, a brief description of goods and services, quantity of supply, unit of measure, tax rate charged, unique register identifier, unique invoice identifier, a quick response (QR) code, and other specifications specified by the Commissioner.
As of its current status, KRA has successfully onboarded nearly all registered value-added tax (VAT) taxpayers. Out of the 250,000 registered VAT taxpayers, 76,960 have been successfully onboarded through the Tax Information Management System (TIMS) by utilizing electronic registers.
Additionally, 53,010 taxpayers have undergone onboarding through e-Tims, aligning with President William Ruto’s administration’s emphasis on leveraging technology to expand the taxpayer base.
