What is eTIMS and how does it work?

President Ruto said that the government intended to increase government revenues upwards of 400 percent on digitization of tax collection platforms. The President said that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), through technology, was going to make it easier and simpler to pay taxes just as had been done through the e-Citizen platform for other government services. 

eTIMS rollout and visits by para-military trained tax assistants

As President Ruto spoke, KRA had the eTIMS ready for roll-out and in a short while it had deployed “an army” of paramilitary trained tax assistants to ensure compliance to the new way of paying tax especially among the small traders, “mama mboga”, “fundi wa mtaa,” kinyozi, boda-boda riders among others. 

Many of these small traders had never formally paid tax before, save for the modest county government levies every once in a while and almost all had never heard the word e-TIMS. 

What has been going on since then have been visits upon visits by the tax assistants with only one word of advice, “comply.”

eTIMS is the acronym for “electronic Tax Invoice Management System.” It is a KRA software solution developed for purposes of tax invoicing. 

Every one carrying out business in Kenya is required to on-board the eTIMS to issue electronic tax invoices and transmit the invoices to KRA through the system. After a few teething problems, KRA saw the need to further simply the eTIMS platform for the small-scale traders to enable a simpler user interactive experience by introducing the eTIMS Lite. 

The eTIMS Lite platform allows non-VAT registered taxpayers to electronically generate and transmit their invoices to KRA through a simplified user interface. It is accessible to all who register through the eCitizen platform, including a USSD option or a web-based solution.

Resistance by Farmers, Doctors and Small-scale Traders

However, the push towards expanding the tax bracket has received serious pushback from a number of traders and some farmers who allege that to be made to pay these taxes beyond what they are already paying as levies or licenses to government bodies will jeopardize their small enterprises. 

In late February, a social media video did many rounds showing how avocado farmers in Murang'a forced KRA officials to halt a training session to the farmers on how to pay tax through the eTIMs system. 

Leaders from the region, among them the Gatanga legislator Wakili Muriu, who had voted for the Finance Bill 2023 which operationalized the tax requirement, were there and to everyone’s amazement were among those who questioned why the government would tax the farmers’ avocados at the production stage. 

According to Muriu, taxing farmers’ produce at that stage would impoverish the farmers and he says it is the avocado consumers who should be taxed.

Meanwhile doctors have also refused to on-board the eTIMS citing a number of reasons. The doctors acting through the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) yesterday gave a seven-day ultimatum to the government to suspend with immediate effect the tax payment system or face a nationwide strike.

The Kenya Medical Association (KMA) said that through using the eTIMS system, the Kenya Revenue Authority would be forcing doctors to disclose patients’ data which is unconstitutional. 

The KMA says the government should immediately cease to implement the eTIMS system, failure to, they will have no choice but to call for a nationwide strike with effect from next week as they pursue an urgent application in court to stop the eTIMS implementation because it is a clear violation of the patients’ constitutional right to healthcare, data protection and privacy.

General small-scale traders, among them “mama mboga, boda-boda riders, fundi wa mtaa, and kinyozi are having a hectic time with not only comprehending their obligations under this law but also fulfilling it. 

The small-scale traders are adept at the game of hide-and-seek but it is anyone’s guess how long it will take before they are caught up with. It difficult to tell whether it is a refusal to comply or fear of the system or the presumed low level of interaction on such systems that is the problem. 

Despite the hitches and hiccups here and there, the government is keen on widening the tax bracket. In a country, like Kenya, that has embraced digitization, it would seem like eTIMs is here to stay, catch the bus and stay current or duck under and disappear. 

If one is a small time trader within the outlier counties where even getting network is an issue, we can only sympathise.