KRA's GavaConnect APIs: what firms can use
What KRA's GavaConnect catalogue offers firms, from PIN and TCC checkers to nil filing, the returns it cannot file, and where Achekam's connector stands.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya
When a firm hears that KRA has opened an API platform, the natural hope is that the monthly grind of logging in to iTax for every client is about to end. GavaConnect is a real step in that direction, but it is narrower than that hope. It is strong on checking things and on a few specific filings, and silent on the returns that take most of a firm's time.
Knowing exactly what is in the catalogue helps a firm plan: which checks it can automate, which still need a person on iTax, and what to ask of any software that claims a KRA connection. This article goes through the catalogue as GavaConnect lists it, what it leaves out, how access works, and where Achekam's connector stands.
The checkers
KRA's GavaConnect developer portal describes a catalogue of government APIs. A large part of it is about verification.
Taxpayer checks. The portal offers a PIN checker that works by PIN or by ID, a Tax Compliance Certificate checker, a Tax Compliance Certificate application API and a Fetch Taxpayer Obligations API.
Invoice and exemption checks. GavaConnect also lists an Invoice Checker API, IT and VAT exemption checkers, and excise licence checkers.
Customs and other lookups. The catalogue includes customs declaration status and import certificate checkers, and a "Know KRA Tax Service Office" API.
For eTIMS integrators. There is an eTIMS OSCU integrator automated testing API, for developers building system-to-system invoicing; the integration route itself is covered in eTIMS OSCU and VSCU integration.
For a firm, the checkers map neatly onto routine tasks: confirming a new client's PIN and obligations, checking a supplier's compliance certificate before a large payment, and checking an invoice a client has received.
Filing and payment slips
GavaConnect lists a smaller set of APIs that do something rather than check something: NIL return filing, turnover tax (TOT) return filing, and PRN generation for income tax withholding, VAT withholding and rental withholding.
The PRN APIs generate the payment registration number used to pay the tax; they do not pay it. The filing APIs cover nil returns and turnover tax returns only.
A caution on nil filing
Whether NIL filing is available at any given time is uncertain. It was reported suspended in January 2026 and back on 1 May 2026. A firm should not build a process that depends on it without a fallback to filing on iTax.
What GavaConnect does not cover
The gap is the important part. GavaConnect offers approved developers PIN and tax compliance certificate checkers and NIL return filing, but no API for filing VAT, corporation tax, PAYE or withholding tax returns.
| Task | Through GavaConnect? |
|---|---|
| Check a PIN or a compliance certificate | Yes, through the checker APIs |
| See a taxpayer's obligations | Yes, through the obligations API |
| File a nil return | Listed, with availability uncertain |
| File a turnover tax return | Listed |
| Generate a withholding PRN | Listed for income tax, VAT and rental withholding |
| File a VAT, corporation tax, PAYE or withholding tax return | No |
So any software that says it "files with KRA" should be asked which returns, and through which route. For the main returns, the answer remains iTax. In practice, the monthly VAT and PAYE cycle, the annual corporation tax return and withholding tax returns stay where they are today. What changes is the work around them: confirming who a client is, what it must file and whether a counterparty is compliant can increasingly be done without a person logging in.
Approved-developer access
The APIs are for approved developers. A firm, or the software provider it uses, has to obtain developer access and keys before any call works. GavaConnect's developer portal lists the government APIs, including the PIN checker, the tax compliance certificate checker and the taxpayer obligations lookup, and is where access starts. The portal also gives an address for API support.
Achekam's GavaConnect connector
Achekam has a GavaConnect connector, and it is important to be precise about its state.
What it needs before production. Achekam checks KRA PINs and tax compliance certificates through GavaConnect only once three conditions are met: the firm enters its own GavaConnect approved-developer keys and addresses, the connection passes a health check, and an Achekam platform administrator authorises it for production. Until then, the connector does not check anything in production. Its token and checker paths are held as configuration because the research behind it could not confirm them.
Nil filing. NIL return filing through GavaConnect is shown in Achekam as coming soon and is not built.
What happens meanwhile. Without a working, platform-authorised connection, Achekam checks only a KRA PIN's shape (a letter, 9 digits and a letter) as a soft check, and does not check BRS numbers at all. The user confirms the PIN on iTax's PIN checker and records the evidence. How PINs and other identifiers are handled across the two countries is covered in tax IDs and the KRA PIN.
Manual checks to keep doing
Until a GavaConnect connection is live for the firm, keep these checks in the routine:
- Confirm each new client's PIN on iTax's PIN checker and save dated evidence.
- Review the obligations on the PIN with the client on iTax; confirming which tax obligations a client's PIN carries sets out the review.
- Check compliance certificates through KRA's own checker before relying on them.
- File nil returns on iTax, whatever the API's status.
- Generate PRNs for withholding through iTax where no integration is in place.
Before signing up
If the firm is considering applying for approved-developer access, list the checks it runs most often and compare them with the catalogue first. The checkers are where the time is saved; the main returns will still be filed on iTax.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
