eTIMS - Overview

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) introduced a new system of online tax invoicing called eTIMS to make the tax compliance and invoicing processes easier for businesses. This allows them to issue invoices online through the KRA and helps improve tax accuracy.

When you connect the eTIMS portal with Zoho Books, you can set up branch-wise e-Invoicing in your organization. You can easily push items, customers, invoices, bills, and users to the eTIMS portal and upload them to the KRA.

Enable Taxpayer Portal in KRA

Generate Device Serial Number

If you’re using eTIMS for the first time, you will require a device serial number to set up e-Invoicing in your organization. This number will be generated for each branch in Zoho Books. To generate the device serial number:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• Click Generate Device Serial Number next to the branch for which you want to set up e-Invoicing.

Once you’ve generated the device serial number, you can sign up into the KRA website to set up the eTIMS portal.

Set Up eTIMS Taxpayer Portal

To set up the eTIMS taxpayer portal, you must fill the commitment and service request forms. The KRA will then verify these forms and provide access to the eTIMS portal.

You need to download the commitment form from the KRA website before filling the service request form. Here’s how:

• Download the commitment form from the KRA website.
• Fill in your personal details as well as the organization’s details.
• Fill the Device Serial Number generated in your Zoho Books organization and enter Zoho Books as the Integrator Name.
• In the Integrator details section, fill in the required details:
  • Under Certified Integrator details, enter P051244297J as the Pin and enter Fouress Technology Limited as the Name.
  • Under Applicable invoicing system requiring integration, enter Zoho Books as the Name and enter 1 as the Version.

This commitment form is to be scanned and uploaded in the service request form.

To fill in the service request form:

• Sign up into the eTIMS taxpayer portal and select the sign up type as Pin.
• Enter your organization’s pin, verify the other details.
• Once the sign up process is complete, access the eTIMS portal using the credentials(KRA Pin and Password).
• Click Service Request in the portal and select eTIMS as the required service.
• The Service Request form will be displayed. Enter the required details and select the eTIMS Type as OSCU (Online Sales Control Unit).
• Upload the scanned copy of the commitment form in the service request form.
• Click Send.

After the processing of the Commitment Form, you will receive an SMS within 24 hours and you can integrate your Zoho Books organization with eTIMS.

Set Up e-Invoicing in Zoho Books

Once the processes on the KRA website are complete, you can set up e-Invoicing in your Zoho Books organization. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• Click Connect Now next to the respective branch.
• In the pop-up that appears, the VAT Registration Number and the Device Serial Number will be auto-populated.
• Enter the Stock Update Time at which you want to push the end-of-day inventory details to the eTIMS portal.
• Click Connect Now.

Your Zoho Books organization is set up with eTIMS, and you now can start pushing your items, contacts, and transactions to the eTIMS Taxpayer portal.

Functions in e-Invoicing

There is a list of actions that you will be able to perform in Zoho Books as part of e-Invoicing.

• Create Items
  • Push Items to eTIMS
  • Fetch Items from eTIMS
  • View Fetched Items
• Create Transfer Order
• Create Customers
• Create Invoices
• Create Bills
  • Fetch Bills from eTIMS
  • View Fetched Bills
  • Fetch Imported Items
  • View Fetched Imported Items
• Create User
  • Push User to eTIMS
• Statuses in e-Invoicing

Create Items

Apart from the fields available by default while creating an item, the government mandates additional fields for e-Invoicing.

The mandatory fields for the Items module are:

Fields	Description
Product Type	Select whether the item you created in Zoho Books is a Raw Material or a Finished Product. Note that the Product Type under eTIMS Additional Information appears only if the item you created in Zoho Books is classified as Goods.
Packaging Unit	Select the packaging unit for the item.
Item Classification Code	Select the item classification code for the item.
Origin Country	Select the country of origin for the item.

Once you create the item with the required details and save it, the item’s status will be marked as Pushed.

Push Items to eTIMS

If the item is not automatically pushed to the eTIMS portal, you must push it manually. Here’s how:

• Go to Items on the left sidebar and select Items.
• Select the item you want to push to the eTIMS portal.
• Click Push to eTIMS in the top right corner of the item’s details page.

The item’s status will be changed to Pushed.

If the push fails, resolve all the errors listed in the item’s details page and try pushing it to the eTIMS portal again.

Fetch Items from eTIMS

If you have migrated to Zoho Books from a different accounting software and had previously pushed items to the eTIMS portal, you will be able to fetch those items into your Zoho Books organization.

To do this:

• Go to Items on the left sidebar and select Items.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and select Fetch Items From eTIMS from the dropdown.

The items will be fetched into your Zoho Books organization from the eTIMS portal.

View Fetched Items

To view the items fetched from the eTIMS portal:

• Go to Items on the left sidebar and select Items.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and select View Fetched Items from the dropdown.
• The list of items fetched from the eTIMS portal will be displayed. You will be able to perform two different actions on the fetched items in your Zoho Books organization.
  • Create: You can create the fetched item as a new item in your Zoho Books organization.
  • Match: You can match the fetched item with a similar item that you’ve created in your Zoho Books organization.

Once you create or match the fetched item, it will be automatically pushed to the eTIMS portal.

If the push fails, resolve all the errors listed on the item’s details page and try pushing it to the eTIMS portal again.

Create Transfer Order

When you create a transfer order in Zoho Books, it will be marked as Initiated Transfer and the first branch’s details are pushed to the eTIMS portal. Once the transfer order’s status is changed to Marked as Transferred, the second branch’s details are pushed to the eTIMS portal.

Create Customers

Apart from the fields available by default while creating a customer, the government mandates additional fields for e-Invoicing.

The mandatory field required for the customers module is:

Field	Description
Branch Code	Enter the branch code where you record the customer’s transactions in your Zoho Books organization.

Once you create a customer with the required details and save it, the customer’s status will be changed to Pushed.

If the push fails, resolve all the errors listed in the customer’s details page and try pushing it to the eTIMS portal again.

Create Invoices

When you create an invoice and mark it as Sent, the invoice will be pushed to the eTIMS portal.

If you have enabled transaction approval for your invoices, make sure that the approvers have approved the invoice before pushing it.

If the push has failed, resolve all the errors listed in the invoice’s details page and try pushing the invoice again.

The invoices pushed to the eTIMS portal will additionally contain SCU Information and a QR Code at the bottom of the transaction PDF page.

Create Bills

When you create a bill in Zoho Books, and save it in the Open status, the bill will be pushed to the eTIMS portal.

If you have enabled transaction approval for your bills, make sure that the approver has approved the bill before pushing it.

If the push fails, resolve all the errors listed in the bill’s details page and try pushing the bill to the eTIMS portal again.

Fetch Bills from eTIMS

If you have migrated to Zoho Books from a different accounting software and had previously pushed bills to the eTIMS portal, you will be able to fetch those bills into your Zoho Books organization. Then, you can either match the fetched bills to the bills you’ve created in Zoho Books or create them as new bills.

To do this:

• Go to Purchases on the left sidebar and select Bills.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and select Fetch Bills from eTIMS from the dropdown.

The bills will be fetched from the eTIMS portal.

View Fetched Bills

To view the bills fetched from the eTIMS portal:

• Go to Purchases on the left sidebar and select Bills.
• Click View Bills at the top of the page to view the bills fetched from the eTIMS portal.
• The list of bills fetched from the eTIMS portal will be displayed. You will be able to perform the following actions on the fetched bills:
  • Create: You can create the fetched bill as a new bill in your Zoho Books organization.
  • Match: You can match the fetched bill with a similar bill that you’ve created in your Zoho Books organization.

Once you create or match the fetched bills, they will be pushed to the eTIMS portal.

Fetch Imported Items

You can fetch the imported items from the eTIMS portal and create a bill of entry for them.

To fetch the imported items:

• Go to Purchases on the left sidebar and select Bills.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and click Fetch Imported Items from the dropdown.

The imported items will be fetched from the eTIMS portal and you can view them along with the list of fetched bills in your Zoho Books organization.

View Fetched Imported Items

You can view the imported items that are fetched from the eTIMS portal and create a bill of entry for them.

To do this:

• Go to Purchases on the left sidebar and select Bills.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and select View Fetched Bills from the dropdown.
• Click Create if you want to create a new bill for the item, or click Match if you want to match the line item with an item you had created in your Zoho Books organization.
• Create a bill of entry for the line items. Learn more about the conditions to create a bill of entry.

To create a bill of entry:

• Go to Purchases on the left sidebar and select Bills.
• Select the bill for which you want to create a bill of entry.
• Click the More icon at the top of the bill’s details page and select Create Bill of Entry from the dropdown.
• In the bill of entry creation page, enter the required details and click Save.

Once you create a bill of entry for the imported item, the bill of entry will be marked as Pushed. If the push fails, resolve all the errors listed in the bill of entry’s details page and try pushing it to the eTIMS portal again.

Create User

Apart from the fields available by default while inviting a user to your organization, the government mandates additional fields for e-Invoicing.

The mandatory fields for inviting a new user to your organization include:

Fields	Description
Address	Enter the address of the user.
Contact Number	Enter the contact number of the user.
Remarks	Enter remarks for the user you want to invite to your organization.

Once you provide these details, select the branch for which you are inviting the user and click Invite.

Push Users to eTIMS

Once the user is invited to your Zoho Books organization, you must push the user to the eTIMS portal. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings.
• Select Users under Users & Roles.
• Select the required user you want to push to the eTIMS portal.
• Click Push to eTIMS in the top right corner of the page.
• Click Push.

The user will be marked as Pushed in your Zoho Books organization, and will be able to access the eTIMS portal you had set up for e-Invoicing in your organization.

Statuses in e-Invoicing

Here are the statuses related to e-Invoicing in Zoho Books:

Fields	Description
Pushed	The transaction has been pushed to the eTIMS portal, and a QR code has been generated.
Yet to be Pushed	The transaction is yet to be pushed to the eTIMS portal for e-Invoicing.
Failed	The transaction could not be pushed to the eTIMS portal. Resolve the errors listed in the transaction’s details page and try pushing it again.

Other Actions

Let us have a look at the various actions that can be performed on the e-Invoicing page.

• View Notices
• View Details
• Fetch Code Lists
• Fetch Item Classification Code

View Notices

You can view the notices sent by the KRA or the eTIMS portal within your Zoho Books organization.

To view the notices:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• Click View Notices next to the respective branch ID for which you want to view notices.

A list of notices will be displayed in the right pane. Click View next to the respective notice to view it on the KRA website.

View Details

To view other details about the e-Invoicing set up in your Zoho Books organization with the eTIMS portal:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• On the e-Invoicing page, click the More icon next to the respective branch ID and select View Details from the dropdown.

Fetch Code List

The code list includes codes for as taxation type, country, payment type, quantity unit, etc., that are part of the transaction details pushed to the eTIMS portal. You can fetch and view the code list in your Zoho Books organization. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• On the e-Invoicing page, click the More icon next to the required branch ID and select Fetch Code List from the dropdown.

The code list will be fetched from the eTIMS portal. To view the fetched code list:

• On the e-Invoicing page, click the More icon next to the required branch ID and select View Details from the dropdown.
• Switch to the Additional Details tab.
• Click the required section to view the list of codes fetched from the eTIMS portal.

Fetch Item Classification Code

The item classification code includes different codes for VAT Act, Goods, Exempt Goods, etc. used for pushing item details to the eTIMS portal. You can fetch and view these codes in your Zoho Books organization. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings.
• Select e-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance.
• On the e-Invoicing page, click the More icon next to the required branch ID and select Fetch Code List from the dropdown.

The item classification codes will be fetched from the eTIMS portal. To view them:

• On the e-Invoicing page, click the More icon next to the required branch ID and select View Details from the dropdown.
• Switch to the Additional Details tab.
• Click Item Classification Code.

You can now view the list of codes fetched from the eTIMS portal.