eTIMS for Schools in Kenya: What Bursars Need to Know About KRA Electronic Invoicing

Ask five bursars whether their school needs to be on eTIMS and you may get five answers. One says schools are exempt because fees are not taxed. Another says everyone must register now. A third says it only matters for suppliers. A fourth has registered on eTIMS Lite but is not sure what to do with it. The fifth is waiting for someone to tell them. The confusion is understandable: the rules changed quickly, they were written for businesses in general rather than schools, and the guidance specific to education is thin.

This article sets out what is known, what is not, and what a school's finance office can sensibly do. It is not tax advice. Tax obligations depend on how a school is constituted, whether it is public or private, registered for VAT or not, and what it sells besides tuition. A school should confirm its own position with KRA or a qualified tax adviser. But a bursar who understands the shape of the rules can ask better questions and avoid the most common mistakes.

What eTIMS is

eTIMS, the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System, is KRA's system for issuing and transmitting tax invoices electronically. The Finance Act, 2023 added section 23A to the Tax Procedures Act, 2015, requiring persons in business to generate and transmit electronic tax invoices through a system KRA prescribes. KRA has stated that this applies from 1 September 2023 to every person in business, including those not registered for VAT, unless they fall within an exemption.

KRA offers several ways to comply, depending on the size and setup of the taxpayer: eTIMS Lite and an online portal for smaller users, a client application, and system-to-system integration for organisations whose own software issues invoices. Each invoice transmitted through eTIMS receives KRA's own reference and verification details.

There is a second, important side. KRA has stated that, from 1 January 2024, business expenses not supported by a valid electronic tax invoice are not allowable for income tax purposes, and it has said that for the 2026 year of income, income and expenses declared in returns are to be supported by valid electronic invoices. That affects anyone who files income tax returns and claims expenses.

eTIMS has two sides: the invoices you issue, and the invoices you receive. A school can be affected by either.

Are school fees taxable?

Educational services are generally exempt from VAT in Kenya under the VAT Act's schedule of exempt supplies. Tuition, in other words, does not attract VAT. But exempt from VAT is not the same as outside eTIMS. KRA's position is that the electronic invoicing requirement applies to persons in business whether or not their supplies are VAT-exempt, and whether or not they are VAT-registered.

Many schools also sell things besides tuition: transport, uniforms, meals for day scholars, hire of the hall or field, a canteen or a farm. The VAT treatment of each can differ, and some may be standard rated. A school with a significant trading side, or a proprietor running other businesses through the same entity, should get specific advice.

Public schools, private schools and the open questions

This is where honest uncertainty begins. We have not found a KRA publication or gazette notice that addresses schools specifically, either confirming how section 23A applies to public schools or exempting them. Public schools are government-funded institutions governed by Boards of Management under the Basic Education Act, and whether they are treated as being in business for these purposes is a question for KRA, not for a software vendor.

Private schools are clearer in one respect: most are run by companies, trusts or individuals who file income tax returns, and the expense-deductibility rule plainly affects them. A private school that buys food, fuel, stationery and services from suppliers who do not issue eTIMS invoices may find those costs disallowed when its tax return is examined.

Our suggestion is simple. Write to your KRA tax station or ask your tax adviser, describe exactly what the school is and what it charges for, and keep the answer on file. Then act on it.

The supplier side: ask for eTIMS invoices

Whatever the answer on fees, the supplier side is usually the more urgent practical issue for private schools. Every purchase that the school or its proprietor wants to claim as an expense should be backed by a valid electronic tax invoice.

That means building eTIMS into purchasing. When the store orders maize, the school orders a bus service, or a contractor repairs a roof, the school should ask for an eTIMS invoice as a condition of payment and check that it carries KRA's verification details. KRA provides ways to verify invoices. Small local suppliers, such as a farmer selling vegetables to the kitchen, may never have issued one, and the school may need to help them onboard or find suppliers who can.

Keeping these invoices with the purchase record, alongside the requisition and the stock received, means the school can produce them when its accounts or tax return are examined.

If a supplier cannot give you an eTIMS invoice, find out before you pay, not when KRA asks.

The issuing side: if your school must transmit invoices

If the school's adviser or KRA confirms that the school must issue electronic invoices, the practical question is how. A school that raises a few invoices a month for non-tuition services might manage with KRA's own portal or eTIMS Lite. A school that invoices every family every term will want the invoices its fee system produces to be transmitted, rather than retyped.

For a system to transmit invoices directly, the school itself has to be onboarded with KRA for the relevant integration, with a control unit registered to its KRA PIN, and the software has to be built against KRA's integration specifications, which KRA issues as part of that onboarding. Be wary of any vendor that claims seamless eTIMS integration without explaining which route it uses, whether it has been certified, and what the school must do with KRA first.

A short action list for the bursar

While the questions above are being answered, there are things a finance office can do now that are useful whatever the answer. Confirm the school's KRA PIN and the name it is registered under, and who holds the iTax login. Write down every kind of charge the school makes besides tuition, so an adviser can say how each is treated. Ask the school's regular suppliers whether they issue eTIMS invoices, and start a list of those who do not. Store supplier invoices with the purchase they relate to. And put the KRA or adviser's written answer about the school's own obligations in the finance file, where the next bursar will find it.

None of this requires new software. It requires the finance office to know what it charges, who it buys from, and what KRA expects, and to have written each of those down.

Where Opero fits

Here is the honest position. Opero's invoices have places to hold the reference number and verification details KRA returns for each transmitted invoice, and its finance screen counts the invoices that have not been transmitted to eTIMS and says so plainly. Opero does not yet transmit invoices to KRA. A working connection needs the school to be onboarded with KRA for system-to-system integration and the integration to be built and tested against KRA's own specifications, and until that is done, Opero tells the school its invoices are issued and valid to families but not transmitted to KRA, rather than pretending otherwise.

In the meantime, Opero keeps a clean record of what the school invoices and what it buys, through its store and requisitions, which makes whichever eTIMS route the school chooses easier to run. If eTIMS transmission is essential to your decision, ask us for the current status in your demo rather than relying on this article.

Key takeaways

Section 23A of the Tax Procedures Act requires persons in business to issue electronic tax invoices through eTIMS, including those not registered for VAT, unless exempt.
Educational services are generally VAT-exempt, but KRA says VAT-exempt businesses are still within eTIMS.
We found no KRA guidance specific to schools; confirm your school's position with KRA or a tax adviser and keep the answer on file.
For private schools, expenses without eTIMS invoices may be disallowed for income tax. Ask suppliers for eTIMS invoices before paying.
Direct transmission from school software requires the school to be onboarded with KRA; ask vendors exactly how they do it.

Frequently asked questions

Are public schools required to use eTIMS? We have not found official KRA guidance that addresses public schools specifically. Ask your KRA tax station or the Ministry's finance officers and keep their answer on record.

School fees are VAT-exempt. Does eTIMS still apply? KRA's stated position is that eTIMS applies to persons in business whether or not their supplies are VAT-exempt. Whether a particular school is a person in business for this purpose should be confirmed with KRA or an adviser.

What happens if our suppliers do not issue eTIMS invoices? For a school or proprietor that files income tax returns, KRA has said expenses not supported by valid electronic invoices are not allowable deductions. Ask for eTIMS invoices as a condition of payment.

Does Opero send invoices to KRA? Not yet. Opero tracks which invoices have not been transmitted and shows that clearly, but the KRA connection is not built. Ask us for the current status before relying on it.

Ask us the hard questions

If eTIMS is on your mind, bring your questions to a demo. We will show you exactly what Opero does with invoices today, and what it does not.

Book a demo and we will walk through invoicing, the eTIMS status screen, and how the store keeps supplier records in one place.