The six-month window for claiming input tax

How long a Kenyan client has to claim input tax under the VAT Act, how KRA describes the window, and what a firm can do about late or faulty invoices.

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

Input tax is the client's money, but only for a while. A supplier's invoice that sits unclaimed in a drawer, or one that cannot be claimed because the PIN on it is wrong, eventually becomes VAT the client has paid and cannot recover. In Kenya, the period in which a claim can be made is set at six months, and the details of how it is counted, and what makes an invoice claimable at all, decide whether a late invoice is still worth chasing.

This article explains the rule as it appears in the VAT Act, how KRA's guidance describes it, what to do about late and faulty invoices, and how a firm can keep track of input tax still waiting to be claimed.

The rule in the VAT Act

The VAT Act, as published on Kenya Law, allows input tax to be deducted within six months after the end of the tax period in which the supply or importation occurred. The provision is section 17 of the consolidated Act.

The starting point in the Act's wording is the end of the tax period, not the date on the invoice. For a monthly filer, a supply made at any point in a month is measured from the end of that month. The consolidated Act, covering registration, rates, the exempt and zero-rated schedules, tax invoices, input tax and returns, is on Kenya Law's page for the VAT Act, 2013.

How KRA's FAQs describe it

KRA's own guidance phrases the window differently. Its input tax FAQ and its FAQ on the auto-populated return describe the six months as running from the date of supply or the invoice date. That can produce a slightly earlier cut-off than the Act's wording.

The practical answer is not to test the difference. A firm that makes sure each claim falls within six months of the earlier of the supply date and the invoice date meets both descriptions. Where an invoice is close to the edge, work from the Act's wording, and note the reasoning in the file.

What makes an invoice claimable

The window only matters if the invoice qualifies. KRA says an input tax claim requires a valid electronic tax invoice or customs entry that shows the buyer's PIN, was transmitted to KRA, and whose sale the seller has declared in its own VAT return.

KRA adds detail on the auto-populated return. Input VAT can only be claimed on TIMS/eTIMS invoices that were transmitted to KRA with the buyer's PIN, and cannot be claimed on manual invoices. KRA also allows input VAT on validated customs import entries, with a status of settled or removed, and on supplies from non-resident digital suppliers who declared the buyer's PIN on a line item.

The seller's own declaration is the condition the client cannot control, and a supplier that does not declare its sales puts the client's claim at risk; suppliers on KRA's special table covers one form of that problem.

Late invoices and reissued invoices

Invoices that arrive late

A supplier's invoice that reaches the client weeks after the supply still has to be claimed within the window. The danger is an invoice that arrives late and then waits for the month-end close, the bookkeeper's holiday and a query before anyone looks at it. Each delay eats into the six months.

Invoices with a wrong or missing PIN

KRA's guidance gives a clear route. When a seller captures the buyer's PIN wrongly or leaves it out, the seller should issue a credit note to reverse the sale and reissue the invoice with the correct PIN. The buyer then claims it in the following month. KRA also notes that a buyer only has to give its PIN to the seller if the purchase is for business and will be claimed in the income tax or VAT return.

Two consequences follow. The client must ask the supplier quickly, because the reissue takes time and the claim moves to a later month. And the client should give its PIN at the point of purchase for every business purchase, so the problem does not arise.

Diarising input tax not yet claimed

Keep a simple register of input tax that is valid in principle but not yet claimed:

1. The supplier, invoice number and invoice date.
2. The tax period in which the supply occurred.
3. The reason it has not been claimed, such as a missing PIN or an invoice not yet transmitted.
4. The last month in which it can be claimed, worked out conservatively.
5. Who is chasing it, and the date of the last contact with the supplier.

Review the register every month alongside the VAT return. Any item within a month of its cut-off goes to the top of the list.

Client VAT schedules in Achekam

Achekam computes a client's Kenyan VAT return from imported sales and purchase schedules, because the client's own books are not linked to it. The purchase schedule is where unclaimed and reissued invoices surface: a reissued invoice is entered as a new line in the month the client can claim it.

Staff open a Kenyan tax profile for the client and start returns that move through prepare, review and approve by different people. The client's lines are typed in, payments are recorded with KRA's reference and confirmed by another person, and Achekam does not pay the tax. The window register above sits alongside the return as a working paper, so the reviewer can see which items were held back and why. Building returns from schedules is described in client VAT returns from schedules, and how shared costs are split in apportioning input tax for mixed supplies.

What to tell the client

Send the client three short rules: give the business PIN on every business purchase; pass supplier invoices to the bookkeeper the day they arrive; and ask any supplier whose invoice is wrong to credit and reissue it at once. Those three habits protect most of the input tax the six-month window would otherwise take away.

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