eTIMS exemption for income through payment platforms

When the Commissioner may exempt a Kenyan client from issuing eTIMS invoices, how exemptions are made by Gazette notice, and what changes for the client.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya

"We don't need eTIMS, all our money comes in through the paybill." Firms hear some version of this from small clients regularly. Sometimes the client has misunderstood the rules. Occasionally there is something behind it, because Kenyan law does allow the Commissioner to exempt certain businesses from issuing electronic tax invoices, and payment platforms are part of that picture.

The difference between a client that is exempt and one that only believes it is matters a great deal: one has a lawful position, the other is out of step with the eTIMS duty on every sale it makes. This article explains where exemptions come from, the payment platform route, how exemptions are made and withdrawn, and what changes for an exempt client.

The starting point: everyone in business issues eTIMS invoices

Section 23A(2) of the Tax Procedures Act requires a person who carries on business to issue electronic tax invoices through the Commissioner's system and to maintain a record of stocks in that system. The same section, at subsection (5), lets the Commissioner exempt a person by Gazette notice.

So exemption is the exception. A client is within the duty unless an exemption applies to it, and in practice the client should be able to show which one.

The payment platform route in regulation 11

The Tax Procedures (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations, 2024 add detail. Under regulation 11(3), the Commissioner may exempt a person from issuing electronic tax invoices where two conditions are met:

1. the person's business income is received through a payment platform recommended by the Commissioner; and
2. the information is transmitted to KRA's system.

Both conditions matter, and neither is the same as "we use mobile money". The platform must be one the Commissioner recommends, and the transaction information must reach KRA's system. The provision says the Commissioner "may" exempt; it does not make the exemption automatic for anyone who meets the conditions.

The regulations themselves, covering who must issue electronic tax invoices, what an invoice must contain, transmission, stock records and the transactions excluded from eTIMS, are on Kenya Law's page for the 2024 regulations.

Exemptions are granted and revoked by Gazette notice

The regulations also provide that exemptions can be granted or revoked by Gazette notice. For a firm, that has two consequences. An exemption should be traceable to a specific notice, which the client should be able to produce. And an exemption can end, so a client exempt last year is not necessarily exempt this year.

Do not confuse exemption with exclusion

Some transactions are outside eTIMS altogether, whoever the business is. Regulation 10 excludes from the electronic tax invoice requirement emoluments, imports, investment allowances including internal accounting adjustments, airline passenger ticketing, interest, financial institutions' fees, expenses subject to a final withholding tax, and services from non-residents without a permanent establishment in Kenya.

A client that only earns interest is dealing with an exclusion. A retailer whose sales come through a recommended payment platform may be dealing with an exemption, if one has been granted. The full framework is set out in the Electronic Tax Invoice Regulations 2024 for firms.

What changes for an exempt client

The obvious change is that the client does not issue eTIMS invoices for income the exemption covers. Two further points are easy to miss.

The tax compliance certificate. KRA says persons and businesses exempted from eTIMS apply for a Tax Compliance Certificate at their Tax Service Office. An exempt client should therefore expect to deal with its Tax Service Office when it needs a certificate. The certificate process generally is covered in the tax compliance certificate in Kenya.

Its other obligations do not change. Exemption from issuing invoices is not exemption from tax. The client's returns, and the obligations on its PIN, continue; see confirming which tax obligations a client's PIN carries.

Recording the position in Achekam

Achekam's Kenyan invoicing steps are built around eTIMS fiscalisation, so an exempt client needs its position explained on file.

Where a Kenyan business has no live eTIMS connection, it issues each invoice through another eTIMS channel, such as eTIMS Lite, eTIMS Client or a third-party integrator that KRA has accepted, then records the control-unit invoice number, internal data and receipt signature in Achekam, where a second person verifies them. Only then does the invoice count as fiscalised. An exempt client will not have those details for exempt income, so its invoices will not show as fiscalised. Keep the Gazette notice or the Commissioner's exemption with the client's tax records, so that anyone reviewing the file understands why.

On the tax side, staff can open a Kenyan tax profile for the client and start returns that move through prepare, review and approve by different people. The client's sales and purchase lines are typed in, because the client's books are not linked to the profile. Payments are recorded with KRA's reference and confirmed by another person; Achekam does not pay the tax.

For the certificate, Achekam checks its own records for what would stand in the way of a tax clearance certificate but never claims KRA will issue one. It takes the expiry from the certificate itself; where a certificate states no expiry, it shows KRA's 12-month practice, labelled as such.

Advising a client who believes it is exempt

1. Ask for the Gazette notice or the Commissioner's written exemption.
2. Check that the client's income actually comes through the platform the exemption relies on.
3. Check that the exemption has not been revoked by a later notice.
4. Identify any income the exemption does not cover, which still needs eTIMS invoices.
5. Explain the Tax Service Office route for the client's compliance certificate.
6. Record the conclusion, with copies, in the client's tax file.

The first question to ask

Before accepting "we're exempt", ask to see the notice. If the client cannot produce one, treat the business as within the eTIMS duty until it can.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.