The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has pledged to continue improving its systems to serve customers better.

This assurance came on Monday, following complaints from small businesses struggling to file returns via the electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS), citing system failures.

Frustrated users say the outages are hindering their ability to comply with government requirements.

“As we speak, I’m at the KRA offices in Kitengela. The eTIMS has been down since yesterday. Meaning no invoices are being generated nationwide. This could result in a loss of billions for the tax collector during the downtime and remains inaccessible,” said one customer.

The Finance Act of 2023 introduced eTIMS to curb tax evasion by requiring all businesses to issue electronic invoices.

She said, even for those who are onboard, the system’s breakdowns have become routine, causing delays in transaction processing and revenue reporting.

However, Kenya Revenue Authority  downplayed the challenge, calling them “normal system breakdowns which should not cause alarm.”

“There is one solution that had an issue and people had problem with but the technicians have worked on and the systems are working. Those who use it have been having issues but are always given options,” said Paul Ongesa, Corporate Communication and Public Relations at KRA.

He said the problem was on one of the etims systems, which has been rectified.

“I have not seen any communication from the technical team sighting such an issue. What I know the systems have up and downs like any other ICT system,” he stated.

“This might also be a result of a fault on the customers’ side. It is not interfering with any operation or collections.”

Though aimed at increasing transparency and minimizing tax evasion, eTIMS is proving to be a tough sell—especially for small and informal businesses.

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has also voiced its concerns in the recent past concerning the system failure.

“The eTIMS requirement is proving to be very difficult to implement, especially for farmers, many of whom do not maintain any records for their supplies and do not even have PINs or bank accounts,” KAM said in a submission to the Finance Committee.

In a bid to address these concerns, KRA launched eTIMS Lite, a simplified version for non-VAT registered taxpayers. It allows invoice generation through USSD or the eCitizen portal, targeting small traders. But critics argue it’s too little, too late.

Businesses failing to onboard by then must retroactively upload all manual invoices issued since January 1—a process many say is both unrealistic and punitive.