Filing a nil return in Kenya
Why a Kenyan nil return cannot be filed through Achekam today, how to file it on iTax yourself, and how to record it so a second person can verify it.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
Not every month has something to declare. A new company registered for VAT before its first sale, a consultancy between contracts, a seasonal business in its off months: each can reach a filing date with nothing to report for one of its tax obligations. The return for that obligation and period is then a nil return, a return that says there was nothing to declare.
Because nothing is owed, nil returns are easy to forget, and a forgotten return is still a missing return. Owners who use accounting software naturally ask whether the software can file these quiet returns for them. For Kenyan businesses using Achekam, the short answer is no, not today. This article explains why, where to file instead, and how to keep a proper record of the filing.
What KRA's GavaConnect offers developers
KRA runs GavaConnect, a platform through which approved developers can connect software to some KRA services. According to the research behind this article, it offers a PIN checker, a tax compliance certificate checker and NIL return filing. It does not offer an API for filing VAT, corporation tax, PAYE or withholding tax returns.
So nil returns are the one kind of return that software could, in principle, file through KRA's own developer channel. Everything with figures in it still goes through iTax.
Reported suspended, then restored
Whether NIL filing through GavaConnect is available at any given moment is uncertain. It was reported suspended in January 2026 and back on 1 May 2026. A channel that has come and gone once may do so again, which is one reason not to build your filing routine around it.
Not built in Achekam
Achekam has a GavaConnect connector for checking KRA PINs and tax compliance certificates, but it does not run in production until the business enters its own GavaConnect approved-developer keys and addresses, the connection passes a health check, and an Achekam platform administrator authorises it. NIL return filing through GavaConnect is shown in Achekam as coming soon. It is not built.
More broadly, Achekam does not file Kenyan returns of any kind. That is not a gap peculiar to nil returns: no KRA filing API exists for the main returns, so the filing itself always happens on KRA's own portal.
Filing on iTax yourself
KRA is Kenya's national tax authority, and returns are filed on iTax. For a nil return, the steps are the same as for any other return, with nothing to enter:
- Log in to iTax with the business's PIN.
- Choose the obligation and the period you are filing for.
- File the return as a nil return.
- Download the acknowledgement iTax gives you.
KRA's guide to filing and paying taxes for companies and partnerships explains how companies file PAYE, corporation tax and instalment tax on iTax, including nil returns and payment slips.
Before you file a nil return, make sure it really is nil. Check the bank statement, the M-Pesa statement and the sales records for the period. A single invoice, a till sale or a staff payment means the return is not nil, and filing it as nil would be a false declaration rather than a shortcut.
Recording the filing for a second person to verify
Inside Achekam, the record of a Kenyan filing works the same way whether the return was nil or full. A person with the business's KRA filing permission files on iTax and uploads the acknowledgement. A different person verifies it before the return counts as filed.
The verifier's job is quick but real: is this the right PIN, the right obligation and the right period, and is it a genuine iTax acknowledgement rather than a screenshot of an unsubmitted form?
Two cautions about the permission:
- No role receives it by default. The Kenyan filing permission (KE_KRA_FILE) is given to named people only. Decide deliberately who they are.
- It may be hard to grant. The permission needed to record a filing is given to no role when the Kenya pack is activated, and no screen was found that grants it. Recording a filing may therefore be unreachable in your workspace. Test it on a return you have already filed, well before a deadline. If you cannot record the filing, keep the acknowledgement in your own files with a note of who filed and who checked it.
Keeping the dates
A nil return has the same deadline as the return it replaces. A Kenyan VAT return, nil or not, is due by the 20th day after the end of the month. A business registered for several obligations may have nil returns for one and full returns for another in the same month, each on its own date.
A simple way to stay on top of quiet obligations:
| Each month | Who | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| List every obligation on the PIN | Finance lead | Obligation list from iTax |
| Confirm which are nil for the period | Bookkeeper | Bank, M-Pesa and sales records |
| File each return on iTax | Person with the filing permission | iTax acknowledgement |
| Verify the acknowledgement | A second person | Recorded against the return |
Unfiled nil returns are also among the first things to clear before you apply for a tax compliance certificate; see getting and keeping a Kenyan tax compliance certificate.
Before the next quiet month
Print your list of obligations from iTax and put every one of them on your calendar, nil or not. The monthly and yearly dates are gathered in a Kenyan business's tax calendar. Then decide who files nil returns, who checks them, and where the acknowledgements live.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
