The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) experienced two disruptions to its electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) within a week, underscoring how critical the platform has become for Kenyan businesses.

The first outage began during scheduled maintenance on July 22, 2026, initially expected to last 20 hours. However, the system remained inaccessible beyond the deadline, impacting businesses through Friday. Although the portal was restored, another interruption occurred on Monday, July 27, before services resumed later that night.

Understanding eTIMS and Its Role

eTIMS enables businesses to issue, transmit, and store electronic tax invoices in real time. All business entities, including companies, partnerships, and sole proprietors, are mandated to use eTIMS unless exempted. The system captures buyer details, goods or services supplied, quantities, prices, and taxes, allowing KRA to cross-check income and expenditure declarations, enhance VAT return accuracy, and detect discrepancies.

Businesses access eTIMS via multiple channels: an online portal, Windows and Android apps, eCitizen, USSD (*2225#), and direct integration with accounting systems. Valid eTIMS invoices are essential for buyers to claim input VAT and support tax returns.

Impact of eTIMS Downtime on Businesses

  • Delayed invoicing: Companies relying solely on the main portal face challenges issuing compliant invoices, leading to delays in delivery, customer approval, and payments.
  • Payment delays: Suppliers paid only upon presenting valid electronic invoices risk non-payment during outages.
  • Tax compliance risks: Without valid invoices, buyers cannot claim input VAT or substantiate expenses, complicating tax returns.
  • Data mismatches: Late or duplicate invoice transmissions can cause discrepancies between seller, buyer, and KRA records, affecting audits and VAT filings.
  • Backlogs and errors: Post-outage invoice surges increase risks of errors and duplicates.

Recommended Actions During Outages

KRA advises taxpayers to utilize alternative channels such as eCitizen, USSD, and the eTIMS Lite app when the main portal is down. Businesses with integrated accounting systems may have other transmission methods available.

Taxpayers should document evidence of outages, including official notices and error messages, and keep manual transaction records. After service restoration, reconciling invoice statuses is crucial to avoid duplicate or incorrect submissions. Late-submitted purchase invoices may still be claimed within six months of the invoice date, per KRA guidelines.

These recent outages reveal that eTIMS functions beyond a tax portal, serving as a vital component of Kenya’s commercial infrastructure.