KRA eTIMS in 2026 — what you need to know
KRA flipped a few rules around eTIMS in early 2026. Here are the changes that affect Kenyan SMEs day-to-day, and what Omnix does about them automatically.
KRA quietly tightened a few eTIMS rules in early 2026. If you run a small business, here's what actually changed and what you have to do.
First the headline: VAT-registered businesses turning over more than KES 5 million per year now have a hard 24-hour ceiling on how late an eTIMS receipt can be issued after a sale. The old "ish" tolerance that everyone used while figuring it out is gone.
If you're using a manual receipt printer plus an Excel file you bulk-upload at end of day, that flow no longer holds. The receipts have to be issued in real time at the till — same minute the customer pays — or KRA's system will flag and ultimately disallow the sale's input VAT for your supplier later.
Second: the receipt format gained two new fields. Buyer KRA PIN (was optional, now required for B2B sales above KES 50,000). And the receipt must include a QR-code link to the eTIMS verification page so the customer can verify legitimacy on their phone.
What Omnix does automatically: - Receipts issue at the till the same second the customer pays. There's no batch upload step. - KRA PIN field on the customer record auto-populates when present and warns the cashier on B2B sales above the threshold. - QR-code generation is built into the receipt template — no separate step.
What you still have to do: - Add your KRA PIN to the company profile if you haven't already. - For B2B sales, ask the customer for their KRA PIN at the till. Omnix prompts you above the threshold. - File your monthly VAT return as before; eTIMS doesn't replace iTax, it feeds it.
If you're not on Omnix yet, talk to whatever software you use about real-time receipt issuance. If they batch-upload, you have a problem.