Do Kenyan traders paid by M-Pesa till or Pochi have to issue KRA eTIMS invoices?

Yes, if they are in business. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) says on its eTIMS help page that "all persons engaged in business are required to on-board eTIMS and issue electronic tax invoices". Traders who are not registered for VAT are covered too. The page sets the duty by who is in business; it does not mention M-Pesa, till numbers or Pochi la Biashara.

What is new is a plan for M-Pesa to do the paperwork. Safaricom "would like to carry out reverse invoicing on behalf of merchants", a KRA official said at a hearing of the National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning on 27 October, as quoted by Business Daily on 28 October. The talks are at a preliminary stage. Until such a system exists, the rules on KRA's FAQ page apply.

eTIMS, the electronic Tax Invoice Management System, is KRA's invoicing software. It runs on computers, tablets and phones, and KRA offers it free of charge. A KRA public notice dated 10 November 2025 said that from 1 January 2026 the authority would check income and expenses in tax returns against eTIMS records. Declared income and expenses "must be supported by a valid electronic tax invoice, correctly transmitted with the buyer's PIN, where applicable", subject to exceptions in Section 23A of the Tax Procedures Act.

That is why buyers ask for the invoice. KRA's FAQ says a seller who does not issue eTIMS-compliant invoices stops customers from claiming the expense in their income tax returns and from claiming input VAT in their monthly VAT returns. Big firms have been dropping small suppliers who cannot generate eTIMS invoices, Business Daily reported.

In the year to March 2026, Safaricom had 3.1 million merchants on M-Pesa, up from 1.8 million a year earlier. Of these, 2.1 million received payments through the Pochi la Biashara wallet and 1 million used Lipa na M-Pesa, which covers paybills and tills.

For a trader taking M-Pesa payments, KRA's FAQ sets out these routes:

1. Choose an eTIMS Lite channel. The USSD code *222# is for individuals and sole proprietors and needs no internet. The web version on eCitizen is for businesses with few transactions. The "eTIMS Non VAT" app is on the Play Store and Apple Store. Businesses that integrate through one of KRA's approved third-party integrators may have to pay for it.
2. Let the buyer invoice for you if your turnover is small. Where the seller's annual turnover does not exceed KSh 5 million, "the purchaser shall issue a tax invoice on their behalf", using the buyer-initiated invoicing service at ecitizen.kra.go.ke.
3. Check invoices you receive. Scan the QR code on the invoice, or enter its number in the Invoice number checker on the iTax portal.
4. Ask KRA. eTIMS queries go to [email protected] or [email protected]. The KRA contact centre is on +254 20 4 999 999 and +254 711 099 999.

KRA also plans to use M-Pesa data to find undeclared income. A document KRA gave the committee reads: "Use financial data, including Till Numbers and Pochi La Biashara, to identify undeclared income," the Kenyan news site Kenyans.co.ke reported on 28 October. The authority would cross-match the data against tax returns. KRA said in July that it collected KSh 2.844 trillion in the 2025/26 financial year, which ended in June.

A till number is not itself taxed. The Kenyan news site Citizen Digital reported on 28 November 2023 that KRA had said on X: "Till numbers are NOT subject to taxation, and KRA does not collect any such taxes."

Under the Safaricom proposal, invoices would go to KRA at the end of each day. "The solution would enable Safaricom to transmit invoices at the end of the day," the KRA official said. The official said the approach "has worked very well with supermarkets where invoices generated during the day are sent to us at night". KRA is already running reverse invoicing with sugar factories and plans to move to tea and coffee next.

Businesses with annual sales below KSh 5 million fall outside most corporate taxes and VAT registration. Many have struggled to do business with larger firms that require electronic invoices. Analysts at PwC had cautioned that small businesses would run into difficulties meeting the eTIMS requirements of the businesses they deal with.

Rules as shown on KRA's eTIMS FAQ page on 29 October 2026.