If you are already generating invoices through KRA's eTIMS portal at etims.kra.go.ke or the eTIMS mobile app, you are doing the right thing. KompliTax does not replace the eTIMS portal — it sits alongside it, doing the work the portal was never designed to do.
This guide explains exactly where the KRA portal ends and where a tool like KompliTax begins — so you can make an informed decision about whether you need both.
What KRA's eTIMS Portal Actually Does
KRA's eTIMS portal (etims.kra.go.ke) is a government-built system with a very specific, narrow purpose: it registers your invoices in KRA's national tax database. It does this job reliably and it is free to use. Specifically, the portal allows you to:
- Generate individual eTIMS invoices and credit notes
- View and download your invoice history
- Search for invoices by date range or customer PIN
- Manage your registered invoicing devices
- Download your customer's purchase records (to verify input VAT)
KRA's portal is the authoritative record. Every eTIMS invoice generated anywhere in Kenya — through the portal, the mobile app, the Shuru WhatsApp bot, or third-party tools like KompliTax — flows into this database. It is the single source of truth for KRA during an audit.
The Manual Work Hidden in the KRA Portal
Here is the problem: KRA's portal is built for compliance, not for how businesses actually work.
When a Nairobi shop owner wants to generate the month's invoices from 80 M-Pesa transactions, this is the process on the KRA portal:
- Log in to etims.kra.go.ke
- Click "Create Invoice"
- Manually type the customer name, their KRA PIN (if B2B), the item description, quantity, unit price, and VAT category
- Click Save and Download
- Repeat 79 more times
At 3–5 minutes per invoice, 80 invoices take between 4 and 7 hours of manual data entry. And the portal does not help you decide which VAT rate applies, whether the transaction is income or an expense, or whether you are on track to meet your filing deadlines.
A Real-World Comparison: The Same Business, Two Approaches
Consider a Nairobi hardware shop with 60 transactions per month:
KRA Portal Only:- Owner receives M-Pesa confirmation SMS for each payment
- Manually reads each SMS and types the details into the KRA portal
- Decides on the VAT category for each item (guessing if unsure)
- 4–6 hours per month of data entry
- No summary of VAT position until they manually add everything up on a spreadsheet
- Misses the VAT filing on 20th — realizes it three days late
- Late filing penalty: KES 10,000
- Owner pastes all 60 M-Pesa SMS messages into KompliTax
- AI extracts amounts, counterparties, and dates automatically
- AI suggests categories — owner reviews and confirms (takes about 15 minutes)
- Clicks "Generate All Invoices" — all 60 invoices created in KRA's system
- KompliTax dashboard shows VAT position, income tax estimate, compliance score
- Email reminder arrives on 17th: "VAT return due in 3 days"
- Total monthly compliance time: under 30 minutes
What KompliTax Adds on Top of the KRA Portal
- M-Pesa AI SMS Parser — Paste your M-Pesa SMS messages and KompliTax extracts all the details automatically: amount, counterparty, date, and direction (income or expense). No manual typing.
- AI categorization — The KRA portal requires you to know the correct VAT treatment for every item you sell. KompliTax uses AI trained on Kenyan M-Pesa transaction patterns to suggest the right category and VAT rate — and learns your preferences over time.
- Bulk invoice generation — Review your transactions once, then generate all the month's invoices in a single action. Not one by one.
- Compliance score — A real-time 0–100 score showing exactly how audit-ready your business is, with specific recommendations on what to fix.
- VAT position and tax reports — See your output VAT, input VAT, net VAT liability, and income tax estimate — all automatically calculated from your transactions and updated in real time.
- Deadline reminders — Automatic email alerts before every VAT deadline (20th of the month), income tax deadline, and MRI deadline. You will never forget to file.
- Multi-client dashboard (Accountant Pro) — Accountants can manage up to 20 client businesses from a single login, viewing their compliance scores and generating reports for each.
When is the KRA Portal Enough?
Be honest with yourself: the KRA portal is sufficient if:
- You have fewer than 10 transactions per month
- Each transaction is simple (one item, clear customer, obvious category)
- You or a staff member can dedicate 1–2 hours per month to manual data entry
- You have a reliable system for remembering filing deadlines
For most Kenyan SMEs — particularly those receiving income through M-Pesa — the transaction volume and complexity quickly make the KRA portal-only approach unsustainable. A typical shop, contractor, or service business in Nairobi or Mombasa handles 30–200 transactions per month.
For Accountants: What KompliTax Means for Your Clients
If you are an accountant managing multiple clients, the KRA portal is a serious bottleneck. Each client has a separate portal login, a separate invoice history, and requires separate data entry. There is no aggregated view of all clients' compliance status.
KompliTax Accountant Pro gives you a single dashboard to view all client compliance scores, download reports, generate invoices for any client, and receive deadline alerts for each. Many accountants find they can manage 3× more clients in the same time after switching to KompliTax.
Pricing Context: Is KompliTax Worth the Cost?
KompliTax starts at KES 499/month (Hustler plan). Consider what you are paying for:
- Saving 3–6 hours of manual data entry per month
- Eliminating the risk of a KES 10,000 late filing penalty (which can happen with just one missed deadline)
- Getting a compliance score that helps you avoid a KRA audit — which typically costs far more in accountant fees and potential penalties
The break-even point for most businesses is avoiding a single late filing penalty per year — which more than pays for 12 months of the Hustler plan.
The Bottom Line
Think of KRA's eTIMS portal as the official government register — the legal home of your invoices. Think of KompliTax as the accountant-grade system that prepares your data, automates the filing, and keeps you informed at every step.
You still file your tax returns on iTax. Your invoices still end up in KRA's eTIMS database. KompliTax simply does all the work in between — so that what takes a Saturday at the KRA portal takes 20 minutes instead.
Getting Started
KompliTax has a free plan that lets you try the M-Pesa SMS parser, compliance checker, and AI categorization with up to 30 transactions per month — no credit card required. Start there, and upgrade to Hustler (KES 499/month) when you are ready for unlimited invoices and full VAT reports.