How KRA checks your income tax return against eTIMS
How KRA validates the income and expenses in a Kenyan income tax return against eTIMS, withholding and customs data, and how to check your figures first.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
It is tempting to think of an income tax return as the business's own account of its year, to be questioned only if KRA later opens an audit. That picture is out of date. KRA now holds its own record of what you sold, what you bought and what tax was withheld from you, and it compares your return with that record when you submit it.
For a business, that turns eTIMS from an invoicing chore into the evidence behind its tax return. Income you declared that eTIMS does not show, or expenses eTIMS cannot see, are where questions start. This article explains what KRA compares, what it expects, and how to check your own figures before KRA does.
What KRA compares
KRA announced in a public notice dated 10 November 2025 that, from 1 January 2026, it validates the income and expenses declared in both individual and non-individual income tax returns against three sources:
- TIMS and eTIMS data, the electronic invoices issued and received;
- withholding income tax data, the tax customers withheld and declared;
- customs import records, for goods brought into Kenya.
KRA said the validation applies when returns for the 2025 year of income or accounting period are submitted. So it is not a future plan: returns submitted from 1 January 2026 fall under it.
KRA's public notice on validating income and expenses in income tax returns sets out what is compared, from when, and how to request your own eTIMS schedules.
Income declared must agree with invoices transmitted
KRA's expectation, in the same notice, is that every item of declared income and expense is supported by a valid electronic tax invoice that was correctly transmitted, with the buyer's PIN where applicable. That is subject to the exceptions in section 23A of the Tax Procedures Act and the Tax Procedures (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations, 2024.
On the income side, the practical point is simple. If your sales went through eTIMS, KRA can see them. If your return declares less, the gap will show. If you declare more than eTIMS shows, because some sales never went through it, that also raises a question: why were they not invoiced electronically?
The other two sources work alongside eTIMS. Income from customers who withheld tax from their payments to you, and goods you imported through customs, are compared in the same way, so your return needs to agree with those records as well.
KRA has since restated the position for the following year. In a notice dated 8 June 2026, it said that from the 2026 year of income all declared income and expenses must be supported by valid electronic tax invoices generated and transmitted through eTIMS or TIMS.
Expenses need valid invoices showing your PIN
Expenses are the other half. KRA has said since 1 January 2024 that a business expense can only be claimed if it is supported by an electronic tax invoice. With validation, that rule is now tested at filing: an expense in your return that eTIMS cannot match to a valid invoice carrying your PIN is exposed.
Weak points include suppliers who issue manual invoices, invoices made out without your PIN or to the wrong PIN, and small suppliers for whom no buyer-initiated invoice was raised. Expenses at risk without eTIMS invoices goes through them, and checking a supplier's eTIMS invoice explains how to catch problems at the point of purchase.
Asking KRA for your eTIMS schedules
You do not have to guess what KRA's records show. KRA encourages taxpayers to ask their designated account managers for TIMS or eTIMS schedules of their annual income and expenses.
Request them well before the return is due. Comparing KRA's schedules with your own ledger, line by line, is the most direct way to find differences while there is still time to fix them, for example by asking a supplier to correct an invoice or reissue one with your PIN.
Checking sales and purchases in Achekam before the return
Achekam gives you three useful views before you file.
Unfiscalised sales. When a Kenyan VAT return is prepared in Achekam, it lists the period's invoices, credit notes and till sales that are not fiscalised. The list does not block the VAT return, but every item on it is a sale KRA's eTIMS data will not show. Clearing it month by month keeps the annual income figure in line with eTIMS. See unfiscalised sales on a Kenyan VAT return.
Purchases without an eTIMS reference. Achekam lists a Kenyan business's supplier invoices that have no eTIMS reference recorded, so you can see which expenses risk being disallowed before they reach the return.
The ledger and trial balance. The general ledger lists every posted line, and the trial balance shows each account for a period or at a date and says whether debits equal credits. That is the side of the comparison you control.
A year-end routine for owners
- Ask your KRA account manager for your eTIMS schedules of income and expenses.
- Clear unfiscalised sales for every month of the year.
- Review purchases without an eTIMS reference and chase suppliers for valid invoices.
- Compare KRA's schedules with your ledger and list every difference.
- Reconcile withholding certificates with the income they relate to.
- Match imports to customs records for the year.
- Explain or fix every difference before you file, and keep the working.
Start with step one this month. The schedules take time to arrive, and every difference you find early is one KRA does not find first.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
