Fiscalising Kenyan till sales through eTIMS
How a Kenyan shop on Achekam's till gets its sales through eTIMS while Achekam does not send them itself, with a day-close check that ties the two.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
A busy counter does not wait for paperwork. A customer picks up a bag of cement, a phone charger and two exercise books, pays by M-Pesa and leaves. The sale is on your till. The question that follows every Kenyan shop owner home at night is whether it is also on eTIMS, because in Kenya the till and the tax system are expected to tell the same story.
If you use Achekam's till, the answer today needs a second step. Achekam records the sale, posts it to your books and keeps the VAT by rate. It does not yet send the sale to KRA's eTIMS system. This article explains why, how shops in that position get their sales through eTIMS, and a routine that keeps the till and eTIMS in step at the end of each day.
Till sales need eTIMS too
Under section 23A of the Tax Procedures Act, every business in Kenya must issue electronic tax invoices through eTIMS and keep stock records. Retail sales are sales like any other. A till receipt that never reached eTIMS is, for KRA's purposes, a sale without an electronic tax invoice. Which transactions fall outside the rule is set out in which Kenyan transactions need an eTIMS invoice; ordinary counter sales are not among them.
Achekam does not transmit to eTIMS yet
Achekam has a connector for KRA's online eTIMS channel (OSCU), and it can use KRA's sandbox for testing. It does not transmit Kenyan invoices to eTIMS in production. Three things have to happen first: KRA certifies the integration, an Achekam platform administrator records that authorisation, and the business initialises a production eTIMS device. A system can connect to eTIMS system-to-system only after KRA certifies the integration, and Achekam does not claim to be a KRA-approved eTIMS integrator. It never generates eTIMS receipt numbers, internal data or signatures itself.
So for now, eTIMS sits outside Achekam, and your sales have to reach it through a channel KRA provides.
Choosing an eTIMS channel
KRA offers several ways to issue eTIMS invoices besides a system-to-system link:
- eTIMS Lite, on the eCitizen website, by USSD on *222# or through the app;
- eTIMS Client, an application for Windows or Android;
- TIMS devices, for businesses already using them;
- a third-party integrator whose own system has been through KRA's certification.
KRA's guide to the types of eTIMS solutions compares the online portal, eTIMS Client, eTIMS Lite, system-to-system integration through VSCU or OSCU, and reverse and buyer-initiated invoicing. A shop with a handful of sales a day may cope with eTIMS Lite; a busy counter will want something that keeps up with the queue. Choose with your accountant, and with the volume of your busiest day in mind, not your average one.
Whichever channel you choose, each sale has to go through it as well as through Achekam's till. That is the cost of the two systems not being connected yet, and it is why the end-of-day check below matters.
Recording what eTIMS gave back
For invoices issued outside Achekam, the business records in Achekam what the eTIMS channel returned: the control-unit invoice number, the internal data and the receipt signature. A second person verifies them. Only then does Achekam treat the invoice as fiscalised.
Achekam prints eTIMS identifiers on an invoice only once it is fiscalised. Until then the document says it is not yet fiscalised, which is a useful warning to anyone who picks it up.
Matching sales by VAT rate and tax code
Posted till sales can be listed by VAT rate and tax code for any period, and Achekam's VAT return calculations read the posted till sales. That list is your comparison point. At the end of the day, set Achekam's totals by rate beside the totals your eTIMS channel shows for the same day:
| Check | Achekam | eTIMS channel |
|---|---|---|
| Standard-rated sales | From the till listing by rate | From the day's eTIMS report |
| Zero-rated and exempt sales | From the till listing by tax code | From the day's eTIMS report |
| Refunds and credit notes | From the till | From the channel that issued the original |
Differences point to a sale rung up on one system and not the other, or a refund recorded on the till but not reversed on eTIMS.
Unfiscalised till sales on the VAT return
When you prepare a Kenyan VAT return in Achekam, it lists the period's invoices, credit notes and till sales that are not fiscalised. The list is a warning, not a block: Achekam does not stop the return. Clearing that list before the 20th is the subject of unfiscalised sales on a Kenyan VAT return.
A day-close routine
Achekam's till already gives you a natural moment for the check. A branch's business day is closed by a supervisor or manager who was not a cashier that day, and closing it freezes the day's Z reports, payments, VAT by rate and differences. Fold the eTIMS check into the same step:
- Before closing the day, list the day's posted till sales by VAT rate and tax code.
- Pull the day's totals from your eTIMS channel.
- Compare them rate by rate and investigate any difference while the cashiers are still on site.
- Issue on eTIMS any sale that was missed, and reverse any that should not be there.
- Close the business day in Achekam, so the figures are frozen.
- Keep the eTIMS report with the day's Z report.
How each till sale lands in the ledger, with its payment method, revenue, VAT and cost of sales, is explained in till sales in the ledger. The eTIMS check is the part only you can do, so make it part of closing the till, not a job for the end of the month.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
