eTIMS

This page shows you how to connect iVendNext to eTIMS, the electronic tax invoice system of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Once it is set up, iVendNext sends your sales and stock movements to KRA for you. It reaches eTIMS through Slade360, the virtual sales control unit service you sign up with.

Before you start

• The Kenya eTIMS app is installed on your site. Ask iVendNext support to add it.
• You have your company's KRA PIN.
• You have your Slade360 account details: the Client ID, the Client Secret, a username and a password.
• You have the System Manager role in iVendNext Desk. Only this role can open the eTIMS settings.
• Your chart of accounts has a tax account with a rate of 16. Once the app is installed, iVendNext adds it to any purchase invoice that has no tax rows, and the purchase invoice cannot be saved without it.

Setting up the connection

Each company that reports to KRA has its own settings record.

1. In Desk, search for iVendNext KRA eTims Settings and create a new record. You can also open it from the eTims Integration workspace.
2. Select the Company.
3. Enter the company's PIN in Tax Payer's PIN.
4. Leave Sandbox Environment ticked while you test. The Server URL and the Auth Server URL fill in with the Slade360 test addresses. When you clear the box, both change to the production addresses and Environment changes to Production.
5. On the Auth Details tab, enter the Client ID, Client Secret, Auth Username and Auth Password. iVendNext keeps the secret and the password encrypted.
6. Tick Is Active and save.
7. Click Get New Token. When the details are correct, the Access Token field fills in. To check that the server answers, open eTims Actions and click Ping Server.
8. Open eTims Actions and click Get Codes. iVendNext loads KRA's code lists, such as item classifications, packaging units, units of quantity and taxation types. You pick from these lists on each item.
9. Open eTims Actions and click "Sync Organisation Units". In the Match Clusters to Companies window, choose your Company for each cluster and click Submit. iVendNext then loads your branches, departments and workstations from Slade360 in the background.
10. Open eTims Actions and click Sync User Details. iVendNext fills the "Organisation Mapping" table with your Slade360 user's workstations. Check each row: Company, Branch, Department, Workstation and Warehouse, and tick Is Active on the row the company uses. iVendNext sends all of the company's sales under the company's first row, so keep the row you use at the top.
11. Save.

Leave the sending switches off for now. You turn them on once your records are ready (see Turning on sending below).

Getting your records ready

KRA needs to know your items, customers and suppliers before it accepts an invoice that names them.

Items

Open an item and go to its eTims Details tab. Fill in these seven fields:

When one of the other six is empty, the item is not saved and iVendNext lists the missing fields. When only eTims Item Type is empty, the item saves but is not registered. When all seven are filled, iVendNext registers the item with Slade360 as you save it. To keep an item out of eTIMS, such as an internal service item, tick Prevent eTIMS Registration.

To register the items you already have, fill in their seven fields first, because an item with a missing field is skipped. Then open the Item list, open eTims Actions and click Register all Items. To register only some, select them and choose Bulk Register Items from the Actions menu.

Customers, suppliers and payment methods

iVendNext sends a customer or a supplier to Slade360 when you save it. If Require Tax ID is ticked on a customer, the customer cannot be saved without a Tax ID.

For the customers you already have, open the Customer list, open eTims Actions and click Submit all Customers. For suppliers, select them in the Supplier list and choose Bulk Submit Suppliers from the Actions menu. For each payment method, open the Mode of Payment, open eTims Actions and click Submit to eTims.

Turning on sending

When your items, customers and payment methods are registered, open your iVendNext KRA eTims Settings record again and go to the Submission Frequency Settings tab. Tick Sales Auto Submission Enabled to send your sales, and Stock Auto Submission Enabled to report your stock movements. Then save.

How your sales reach KRA

When Sales Auto Submission Enabled is ticked, iVendNext sends each POS invoice to KRA when it is submitted. This covers a sale rung up on iVendNext POS and a POS invoice entered in Desk. The cashier does nothing extra, and the sale completes when KRA refuses the invoice or cannot be reached.

When KRA accepts the invoice, iVendNext ticks Successfully Submitted? and fills the invoice's eTims Details tab in Desk: the KRA QR code link (QR Code Url), the SCU invoice number, the receipt signature and the control unit date and time. The receipt the till prints at the sale does not carry these details.

iVendNext does not send these invoices:

• an opening invoice (Is Opening Entry set to Yes)
• an invoice with Prevent Submitting to eTims ticked

When an item on the invoice is not yet registered, iVendNext registers it and does not send the invoice. Send the invoice again once the item is registered (see below). To find invoices that did not reach KRA, filter the POS Invoice list on Successfully Submitted?, or open the Document Submission Status Report.

Sending an invoice again

Open the submitted POS invoice and open eTims Actions:

• Send Invoice appears while the invoice has not reached KRA. Click it to send the invoice.
• Sync Invoice Details appears when KRA accepted the invoice but the QR code did not arrive. Click it to fetch the details without sending the invoice again.
• "Verify Submission and Resend if Incorrect" compares an invoice that reached KRA with Slade360's copy, and sends it again if they differ.

To check many invoices that reached KRA, select them in the POS Invoice list and choose Verify & Resend to eTims from the Actions menu.

Returns and cancellations

A return is sent to KRA as a credit note against the original sale. The original sale must have reached KRA first. If it has not, iVendNext saves the return but does not send it.

You cannot cancel an invoice that has reached KRA. iVendNext stops the cancellation and tells you to create a credit note instead.

Stock movements

When Stock Auto Submission Enabled is ticked, iVendNext reports each stock movement to KRA, such as a purchase receipt, a delivery or a stock reconciliation. A material transfer between your own warehouses is not reported.

Reports

The eTims Integration workspace has five reports:

Check the Document Submission Status Report before each KRA filing date.