Preparing a client's IT2C company return

What a firm should gather for a Kenyan company's IT2C return, what KRA checks it against, and how review, client approval and filing run.

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

A Kenyan company's income tax return is rarely hard because of the form. It is hard because the pieces arrive late and from different people: the trial balance from the bookkeeper, withholding certificates from customers, instalment receipts from whoever paid them, and eTIMS invoices that KRA can now see as clearly as you can.

Good IT2C return preparation is mostly a matter of assembling those pieces in the right order, well before the deadline, so that the return the partner approves is one the firm can defend if KRA's systems disagree with it. Below is what to collect, what KRA compares it against, and how the work travels from preparer to a verified iTax acknowledgement.

Six months from the year-end

KRA says corporation tax is filed on iTax using the Income Tax Company Return, the IT2C, on or before the end of the sixth month after the accounting period ends. A company with a 31 December year-end therefore has until 30 June of the following year. KRA's page on how companies and partnerships file and pay their taxes sets this out with the other obligations attached to a company PIN.

Missing the date is costly. KRA says late filing of a company income tax return attracts a penalty of 5% of the tax due or KES 20,000, whichever is higher, and late payment by non-individuals attracts 5% of the tax due plus interest of 1% per month. Those are KRA's figures at the time of writing; check its penalties page before quoting them to a client.

For a firm with many December year-end clients, the whole portfolio lands in the same few weeks. Clients with other year-ends are easier to forget because they fall outside the June rush, so a deadline list built from each client's own year-end is worth more than a single reminder in late May.

What goes in the pack

KRA says a business filing its annual return should have its books of accounts (the income statement), records of allowable expenses, and details of tax already paid, such as instalment tax and withholding tax credits. Turned into a request to the client, that becomes:

• the final trial balance and the income statement drawn from it, after year-end adjustments;
• the expense and fixed asset detail the firm needs to separate allowable from disallowable items;
• every instalment tax payment for the year, with its payment reference;
• the withholding tax certificates received, for matching against income;
• last year's return and assessment, so that brought-forward balances agree;
• the client's eTIMS sales and purchase records for the year.

Ask for the whole pack at once, with one due date. Piecemeal requests produce piecemeal answers, and the last item to arrive is usually the one that moves the tax figure.

Income and expenses that KRA can already see

KRA says that from 1 January 2026 it validates the income and expenses declared in company and individual income tax returns against TIMS/eTIMS data, withholding income tax data and customs import records. The validation applies when returns for the 2025 year of income or accounting period are submitted.

So the IT2C is now tested against three outside records before anyone at KRA opens the file. Before the return is drafted:

1. Compare declared sales with the client's eTIMS sales for the period. A difference needs an explanation the file can show, not a rounding note.
2. Test the larger expenses against eTIMS purchase invoices and customs entries. An expense with no matching invoice is the one KRA's system will question first.
3. Match the withholding certificates to the income they relate to, so that the credit claimed is supported and the income behind it is declared.

The detailed matching steps are in reconciling client withholding certificates, and the eTIMS side in checking a client's eTIMS schedules.

Prepare, review and approve in Achekam

In Achekam, a Kenyan tax return is prepared by one person, reviewed by a second and approved by a third. Once approved, its rule snapshot and figures are frozen. If something changes later, an amendment is a new version and nothing is overwritten, so the file still shows what was approved and when.

The three-person split suits the IT2C well. The preparer assembles the pack and drafts the return. The reviewer tests the eTIMS and withholding reconciliations rather than re-adding the schedules. The approver, usually the partner, signs off knowing two people have already looked at the numbers. The general flow for Nigerian and Kenyan returns is described in how a tax return moves through the firm.

The client approves by e-signature

A return that is approved, or ready to file, can be sent to the client to approve by e-signing a summary PDF. That gives the firm a dated record that the directors saw the taxable profit, the credits claimed and the tax payable before anything went to KRA.

Send it with a short covering note: the tax payable, the instalments and credits already set against it, and the date by which payment must reach KRA. Directors approve faster when the e-mail answers the question they actually have, which is how much they owe and by when.

Filing on iTax and recording it

Achekam does not file Kenyan returns. A person who holds the firm's KRA filing permission files the IT2C on iTax and uploads the acknowledgement. A different person then verifies that acknowledgement before the return counts as filed in Achekam.

That last step closes the loop. A return marked as filed with nothing attached tells a reviewer very little; one carrying the iTax acknowledgement, checked by a second person, is evidence.

Starting next year's pack now

The cheapest moment to prepare next year's IT2C is the month after this year's is filed. Note which items arrived late, which expenses lacked eTIMS invoices and which certificates were missing, and turn those notes into the first request of the new year. A client that fixes its eTIMS habits early in the year has far less to explain when the next deadline comes round.

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