eTIMS for Landlords: How to Issue Tax-Compliant Rent Receipts

Last reviewed: May 2026. General information, not tax or legal advice — eTIMS rules are widening, and the detail of how they apply to individual landlords is still settling. Confirm your obligations with KRA or a registered tax agent. See References at the end.

If you run rental property in Kenya as a business, KRA's electronic invoicing rules are heading your way. KRA's Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) started with VAT-registered businesses and has been widening to cover other persons in business — and landlords issuing invoices are increasingly in scope. The good news: once you understand what's required, compliance is straightforward, and the right tools can take most of the repetitive work off your plate.

What Is eTIMS?

eTIMS — the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System — is KRA's digital platform for generating, transmitting, and validating tax invoices and receipts in real time. Think of it as KRA's way of watching every transaction as it happens, rather than waiting for you to self-report at the end of the year.

Every receipt generated through eTIMS carries a unique fiscal signature — a digital stamp that proves the transaction was reported to KRA. Without that signature, your receipt isn't compliant, and neither are you.

Who It Applies To (and the eRITS Distinction)

KRA has been extending eTIMS beyond traditional retail and service businesses to other persons in business — and from 1 January 2024, expenses not supported by a valid electronic tax invoice are generally not deductible. The logic is simple: rent is income, invoices are records, and KRA wants visibility.

There's an important distinction, though. Residential landlords on the Monthly Rental Income (MRI) regime — the 7.5% final tax on gross rent — file through KRA's eRITS (Electronic Rental Income Tax System, launched in 2025), not eTIMS. eTIMS is the electronic invoicing system that matters most for landlords operating as a business: commercial lettings, VAT-registered landlords, and anyone issuing tax invoices their tenants need to claim expenses. If you're unsure which applies to you, that's exactly the kind of question to put to KRA or a tax agent — the rules are still settling.

For tenants, a proper tax invoice matters too. Businesses renting your property need valid invoices to claim input VAT, and even individual tenants increasingly want proper receipts for their records and mortgage applications. Clean, compliant paperwork makes you a more attractive landlord either way.

The Manual Process (And Why It's Painful)

Here's what eTIMS compliance looks like if you're doing it yourself:

1. Register on the eTIMS portal — apply through iTax, get approved, configure your taxpayer details
2. Log in every time a tenant pays rent — whether that's via M-Pesa, bank transfer, or cash
3. Manually enter the transaction details — tenant name, KRA PIN, amount, property details, payment date
4. Generate the eTIMS receipt — wait for the fiscal signature from KRA's servers
5. Send the receipt to the tenant — download, attach, email or WhatsApp
6. Repeat for every unit, every month

If you own 5 units, that's 5 logins, 5 manual entries, 5 receipts to generate and distribute. Every month. If you own 20 units, multiply accordingly. And if a tenant pays late or in instalments? Each partial payment needs its own receipt.

Most landlords who try the manual process give up after a month or two. The ones who don't are spending hours every month on what should be a background task.

What Happens If You Don't Comply

Where eTIMS applies and you don't comply, the exposure is real. Under the Tax Procedures Act, 2015, failing to issue or electronically transmit a valid electronic tax invoice can attract a penalty of two times (200%) of the tax due (section 86, as amended by the Finance Act 2023, read with the Tax Procedures (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations, 2024, where the Commissioner is not satisfied with the reasons for the non-compliance). Separately, the general offence of failing to comply with the electronic tax system can carry a fine of up to KES 1,000,000, imprisonment for up to 3 years, or both. In practice, the more common consequences are:

• Non-deductible expenses: from 1 January 2024, costs not backed by a valid electronic tax invoice are generally disallowed — so weak records can quietly inflate your tax bill.
• iTax cross-validation: from 2026, KRA validates declared income and expenses against eTIMS records at filing, so discrepancies trigger queries.
• Tax-compliance friction: a blocked or delayed tax compliance certificate (TCC) can hold up government business, licences, and due-diligence checks.

The exact penalty that applies depends on your situation — that's worth confirming with a tax agent — but the direction of travel is clear: KRA has been steadily tightening enforcement, and landlords operating as a business are increasingly in scope.

How PropTraka Will Handle eTIMS Compliance

eTIMS invoicing in PropTraka is coming soon — we are completing KRA onboarding, so the steps below describe how it will work once it goes live and your KRA credentials are connected.

Once eTIMS invoicing is available, you will connect your KRA eTIMS (OSCU) credentials one time, and from then on the eTIMS side of receipting will run in the background — no portal logins, no manual data entry, no chasing receipts.

Here's how it will work:

Step 1: Tenant Pays Rent

Your tenant pays through whatever channel they prefer — M-Pesa, bank transfer, or card. PropTraka picks the payment up through its payment integrations and matches it to the correct tenant and unit. (This rent tracking and matching already works today — it's the foundation eTIMS receipting will build on.)

Step 2: PropTraka Processes the Payment

The moment the payment is confirmed, PropTraka records the transaction against the tenant's lease and updates your income dashboard. Once eTIMS goes live, that same confirmed payment will trigger the eTIMS receipt step — without an extra manual step from you.

Step 3: eTIMS Receipt Generated

With your KRA eTIMS (OSCU) credentials connected, PropTraka will submit the transaction details to KRA — tenant information, your KRA PIN, property details, amount, and payment date. KRA will return the fiscal signature, and PropTraka will produce a fully compliant eTIMS receipt with all required fields:

• Seller (landlord) details and KRA PIN
• Buyer (tenant) details and KRA PIN
• Property and unit reference
• Amount and payment method
• eTIMS fiscal signature and QR code
• Unique receipt number

Step 4: Both Parties Get Notified

PropTraka will send the eTIMS receipt to your tenant — via email, SMS, or in-app notification based on their preference. You get a copy too. The receipt will be stored in PropTraka's document vault, searchable and downloadable anytime.

No portal. No manual entry. No forgetting. Every receipt, every month, fully compliant.

What About Partial Payments and Arrears?

Real life isn't neat. Tenants pay late, pay in instalments, or carry forward balances. Once eTIMS invoicing is live, PropTraka will handle all of this:

• Partial payments will generate individual eTIMS receipts for the exact amount received
• Arrears payments will be matched to the correct period and receipted accordingly
• Advance payments will be allocated and receipted against future months

In the meantime, you can already see how each tenant is paying right now. PropTraka tracks every rent payment against the lease, shows arrears and partial balances on your dashboard, and keeps a Needs-Review list for any payment it isn't sure how to match — so you stay on top of who has paid what, ready for the day eTIMS receipting switches on. If you want a second read on the numbers, you can ask ARDO™ — PropTraka's advisory assistant — to walk you through what your payment and arrears data is showing.

What You'll Need to Get Started

When eTIMS invoicing goes live, connecting it through PropTraka will take about 10 minutes:

1. Ensure you're registered on iTax and have your KRA PIN
2. Apply for eTIMS access through the iTax portal (if you haven't already)
3. Connect your KRA credentials in PropTraka's settings — PropTraka will walk you through this step by step
4. Add your properties and tenants (or import them if you're migrating from spreadsheets)

Once connected, every future rent payment will generate an eTIMS receipt automatically. PropTraka will also handle the edge cases — credit notes for refunds, corrections for overpayments, and annual summaries for your tax filing.

eTIMS Is Here to Stay

KRA's direction is clear: full digital visibility into every taxable transaction in Kenya. eTIMS isn't a pilot programme that might get rolled back. It's the foundation of Kenya's tax administration going forward.

For landlords, the choice is between spending hours every month on manual compliance — or letting your property management platform carry the receipting in the background while you focus on what actually matters: growing your portfolio and keeping your tenants happy.

Get your rent tracking ready — start your free 14-day trial, and once eTIMS invoicing goes live and your KRA credentials are connected, you'll never need to log into the eTIMS portal again.

References

• Tax Procedures Act, 2015 (Cap 469B), Laws of Kenya — electronic tax invoice requirements, offences, and penalties.
• Finance Act, 2023 and the KRA eTIMS rollout — extension of electronic invoicing beyond VAT-registered businesses, and non-deductibility of expenses not supported by a valid electronic tax invoice from 1 January 2024.
• KRA eRITS (Electronic Rental Income Tax System, launched 2025) — the filing channel for Monthly Rental Income.
• Kenya Revenue Authority — eTIMS and rental income guidance, kra.go.ke.

eTIMS scope and penalties are still widening and depend on your circumstances. Confirm your obligations with KRA or a registered tax agent before relying on this guide.