Filing B2B eTIMS Invoices with the Buyer’s KRA PIN

KRA treats an eTIMS document that carries the buyer’s PIN as a business-to-business supply. The buyer can claim the input VAT on it, and the purchase appears in their own iTax records. A document filed without a buyer PIN is a consumer sale: it is valid, but a VAT-registered buyer cannot claim against it, and their accountant will ask you to reissue it. For a business selling to other businesses, filing B2B is the difference between an invoice the customer can use and one they send back.

In AWRA the buyer PIN is the customer’s KRA PIN, recorded once on the customer. When an invoice, a POS sale or a credit note for that customer files to eTIMS, the PIN is sent as the buyer PIN automatically; nothing has to be typed at the till or on the invoice. A customer with no PIN on file is filed as a consumer sale, as before. A walk-in POS sale with no customer is a consumer sale too.

In practice: a hardware store in Thika sells KES 116,000 of cement to a building contractor who is VAT-registered. Because the contractor’s KRA PIN is on its customer record, the invoice files to eTIMS with that buyer PIN, and the contractor’s accountant sees the purchase in iTax and claims the KES 16,000 input VAT. The same morning a walk-in buyer pays cash for a wheelbarrow at the till; that sale has no customer PIN and files as a consumer sale.

Record the PIN on the customer form, in the VAT and tax section, in the KRA PIN field. A KRA PIN is one letter — A for an individual, P for a company or other non-individual — then nine digits, then one letter, for example P051234567X. Copy it from the customer’s PIN certificate or an invoice they have issued, not from memory.

A PIN that is not in that shape is not sent. KRA rejects the whole document when the buyer PIN is invalid, so sending a mistyped PIN would stop the invoice from filing at all. Instead the document files as a consumer sale: it lands at KRA, the sale is compliant, and the only loss is the buyer’s ability to claim against it. The fix is to correct the PIN on the customer; documents filed after that carry it. For a document that already filed as a consumer sale and must be B2B, follow your usual correction route with KRA — a credit note and a fresh invoice.

In practice: an accounts clerk types a contractor’s PIN as P05123456X — eight digits. The next invoice files to eTIMS successfully, but as a consumer sale, and the contractor’s accountant asks why it is missing from iTax. The clerk opens the customer, corrects the PIN to P051234567X from the PIN certificate, and the invoices that follow file as B2B. The wrong invoice is reversed with a credit note and reissued so the contractor can claim it.