For the person who is not sure whether any of this is their problem.
Most businesses find out the answer the awkward way: a good customer asks for an invoice they cannot produce. It is worth getting to the answer before that happens, and the answer is usually less complicated than the discussion around it.
The most common one is this: "I am not VAT registered, so this is not about me." That assumption has cost a lot of small suppliers a lot of orders. The requirement to issue properly generated tax invoices is broader than VAT registration, and a business customer who needs to support an expense needs the right kind of invoice from you regardless of how you are registered.
Do not take that as a ruling on your specific case. Take it as a reason to ask the question properly rather than assuming you are outside it.
That is the usual way. ProtechBooks issues compliant invoices from the till and transmits them as the sale happens, so the next time a customer asks, the answer is yes. From KSh 500 a month, 14 days free.
See pricing Start free trialNothing dramatic, and nothing that requires closing for a week. In order: find out which eTIMS route fits a business your size, get onboarded, classify what you sell, and start transmitting. Our step-by-step registration page walks through what each stage actually involves and which one takes the time.
Keep trading throughout. There is no version of this where stopping work to wait for paperwork is the right call.
Then you are, and nobody should sell you a system on a compliance scare. It is still worth knowing where the line sits, because businesses cross it by growing, and the version of this conversation that happens after a customer has already walked is a worse one. Ask your accountant where you stand and what would change it.
Possibly. This is the most common misreading. The requirement to issue properly generated tax invoices is broader than VAT registration, and a business customer who needs to support an expense needs the right kind of invoice from you regardless of how you are registered. Confirm your specific position with KRA or your accountant rather than assuming you are outside it.
Ask KRA or your accountant about your specific situation — scope, thresholds and exemptions change, and a general page cannot rule on your case. The practical signals that it applies: a business customer has asked for an eTIMS invoice, you sell to other businesses, or you supply institutions and tenders.
It means they need a properly generated tax invoice to support the expense they are claiming, and they cannot use what you currently issue. Your ability to produce one has become part of whether they keep buying from you. This is how most small suppliers discover the requirement.
Your exposure is lower, because individual customers are not claiming expenses. But the question of whether you are required to issue compliant invoices is separate from who your customers are, so it is still worth confirming rather than assuming.
Then find out where the line sits now rather than later. Businesses cross thresholds by succeeding, and the version of this conversation that happens after a customer has already walked away is a much more expensive one.
The plain-English version: what it is and why your customers are asking.
What you need, the order it happens in, and how long each step really takes.
You bought an ETR machine. Here is where it stands now.