All petrol stations in Kenya have until June 30 to integrate their systems with the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) Fuel Stations System as the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officially begins tracking the visibility of transactions across the high-volume fuel stations in the country.
According to KRA, all fuel stations in the country must comply, as the authority seeks to improve tax compliance and efficiency in the petrol stations.
KRA is shifting from the old Electronic Tax Registers (ETRs), which were inefficient for fuel stations, to the eTIMS to cater to the complex and high-volume operations in the fuel stations.
In the new move, the eTIMS system is directly integrated into fuel pumps, linking dispensers with point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
This integration enables KRA to track Value Added Tax (VAT) claims from motorists in real time by relaying dispenser activity to the eTIMs server.
The new system allows the petrol stations to report to the taxman in real-time, and the printouts generated will reflect each customer's transaction details.
''The new system allows for real-time, seamless invoicing through integration with a fuel station's forecourt controller, computerised sales system, fuel management system, point of sale (POS), and/or printer, depending on the station's automation level,'' the taxman wrote.
''This integration ensures that every transaction is captured electronically and transmitted to KRA in compliance with the law,'' the statement by KRA revealed.
According to KRA, the system has already begun working in several petrol stations, which began the pilot phase in April; however, the taxman has now advised all petrol stations to follow suit and ensure they have eTIMS integrated into the fuel pumps by June 30.
For integration, petrol stations can either self-integrate or use third-party service providers certified by KRA.
''As of April, five third-party eTIMS integrators were certified, with several fuel stations already successfully integrated and many others progressing through various onboarding stages. KRA has set June 30 as the final date for all fuel stations to complete their integration with eTIMS. We encourage all fuel stations to onboard eTIMS to avoid enforcement action," the taxman warned.
KRA emphasises that this is a compliance measure, benefitting petrol stations with faster service delivery, simplified tax compliance, and real-time validation, helping them avoid disputes and streamline VAT refunds.
However, concerns have been raised that the move could indirectly affect fuel prices due to higher operational costs for fuel stations.
