The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has integrated its electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) with payments on ride-hailing platform Little Cab, in a broader push to enable Kenyans to claim digital taxi fares as tax-deductible expenses, while tightening tax compliance in the fast-growing sector.
The taxman’s integration of eTIMS with Little Cab’s receipt system will enable businesses and other taxpayers to support claims for business travel expenses with KRA-compliant tax invoices, while helping drivers meet their tax obligations.
Little Cab is the first ride-hailing platform to complete the integration, but KRA says other operators are also in the process of joining the system as it seeks to expand tax compliance among digital taxi drivers and allow business travel expenses to be supported by eTIMS invoices.
“Businesses now are required to support their expenses with eTIMS invoices, so this is very relevant for purposes of VAT and income tax filing,” said Caroline Wacuka, integrity assurance officer in the eTIMS operations department at KRA.
“We have other players in the process of integrating, including some in this space of ride-hailing. By integrating, these businesses will help people they are doing business with to be compliant by supporting their business expenses with compliant invoices.”
Currently, many ride-hailing firms generate automatic receipts for users after a trip is completed, but these receipts are not accepted by KRA as supporting documentation for tax-deductible business expenses because they are not generated through eTIMS.
The integration follows changes introduced under the Finance Act 2025, which require taxpayers to support deductible business expenses with eTIMS-generated tax invoices, a move aimed at improving tax compliance and sealing revenue leakages.
Once an eTIMS invoice is generated, the transaction is captured within KRA’s tax system, helping account for VAT where applicable while also improving visibility of drivers’ income for income tax compliance. The integration is significant for Little Cab because of its strong focus on corporate business-to-business (B2B) clients.
Before the integration, its corporate customers could not use Little Cab receipts to support claims for deductible business travel expenses, potentially making the platform less attractive than alternatives offering KRA-compliant invoices.
Beyond corporates, self-employed professionals, freelancers and contractors who file their own income tax returns also require eTIMS invoices to support eligible business expenses incurred in the course of earning their income.
The taxman has increasingly turned its attention to the digital economy in recent months, with platforms operating in sectors such as ride-hailing, short-term accommodation and digital content creation increasingly required to strengthen tax compliance measures, including collecting users' KRA PIN details where required.
