If you run a business in Kenya, you know the problem. You buy tomatoes from a farmer at Wakulima Market for your restaurant. You take a matatu to meet a client in Westlands. You buy welding rods from a Jua Kali artisan for a construction job. All legitimate business expenses. All tax-deductible in principle.

But when you sit down to file your income tax return on iTax, you hit a wall. The system wants an eTIMS invoice for every expense. Your tomato supplier does not have eTIMS. Your matatu conductor does not have a KRA PIN. And the Jua Kali welder looks at you funny when you ask for one.

KRA addressed part of this problem earlier this year by introducing the Manual Non-eTIMS CSV upload feature, a workaround that lets businesses declare expenses that could not be supported by an electronic invoice. But the feature had a catch that made it nearly as frustrating as the original problem.

That catch was removed this past Sunday. Here is what happened.

The problem with the old CSV upload

When KRA rolled out the Manual Non-eTIMS CSV upload, it was a step in the right direction. Businesses could prepare a spreadsheet listing their informal expenses, upload it to iTax, and claim those costs as deductions against taxable income.

But the system required the supplier's KRA PIN for every line item on the CSV. Every single row needed a PIN.

For formal suppliers who forgot to issue an eTIMS invoice, this was manageable. You could call them up, ask for their PIN, type it in, and move on. But for the millions of transactions that happen daily in Kenya's informal economy, it was a dead end.

A farmer selling sukuma wiki at Gikomba does not have a KRA PIN. A boda boda rider taking you to a meeting does not carry their tax registration details. A mama selling charcoal by the roadside is not going to hand over a PIN receipt.

The result was predictable. Businesses either left those expenses off their returns entirely, paying more tax than they owed, or they scrambled to find PINs that did not exist, delaying their filings. Some gave up and filed incomplete returns knowing they were losing money.

CPAs and tax agents flagged this repeatedly. The CSV feature was theoretically useful but practically broken for the very scenario it was designed to solve.

What KRA changed

The update that went live this past Sunday is simple but significant. The supplier PIN field on the Manual Non-eTIMS CSV is now optional.

You can still include a supplier PIN where you have one, and the system will validate it. If the PIN is invalid or incorrectly formatted, iTax flags it and lets you correct it before proceeding. That error-checking function remains in place.

But if you do not have a PIN for a particular supplier, the field can now be left blank. A missing PIN no longer prevents you from uploading the CSV or claiming the expense.

The second part of the update is equally practical. Once you upload your Manual Non-eTIMS CSV, the expenses are available for claiming immediately. There is no approval queue. No waiting period. No manual review by a KRA officer before you can proceed with your return. Upload, and the figures populate your filing.

What this means for your business

If you are a business owner filing your 2025 return before the June 30 deadline, this changes the calculation in a real way.

Every expense you could not claim because of a missing supplier PIN is now claimable. That matatu fare to Mombasa. That cash payment to a casual labourer. That purchase of raw materials from an unregistered trader. If the expense was genuine, incurred in the production of income, and you can describe it on the CSV, it goes in.

This does not mean you can claim anything without consequences. KRA's broader validation framework still applies. Since January 2026, iTax has been cross-referencing every income and expense figure against eTIMS data, withholding tax records, customs import records, and other sources. If your declared expenses look disproportionate to your income or industry norms, expect scrutiny.

You also still need supporting documentation. The CSV upload replaces the eTIMS invoice requirement, but it does not replace record-keeping. If KRA audits your return, they will want to see receipts, payment proofs, contracts, or bank statements that support the expenses you declared. Keep your records clean.

A word of caution from practitioners

One CPA who commented on the update publicly noted that while the change is a relief, it also means returns will require more preparation, not less. With the PIN requirement gone, the temptation to bulk-load expenses without proper documentation increases. But so does KRA's ability to flag anomalies.

The advice from tax practitioners is straightforward. Take the time to prepare your Manual Non-eTIMS CSV properly. List each expense with the supplier name, date, amount, and description. Include the PIN where you have it. Where you do not, describe the transaction clearly enough that it can withstand a review.

Do not treat the optional PIN field as an invitation to fabricate expenses. The field is optional. The audit trail is not.

How to use the Manual Non-eTIMS CSV upload

For those who have not used this feature before, here is the basic process.

Prepare your CSV file in the format prescribed by KRA. Each row represents one expense transaction. Columns include the supplier name, supplier PIN (now optional), invoice or receipt number (if available), date, description of the expense, and amount.

Log into iTax and navigate to your income tax return. Look for the section on business expenses and the option to upload a Manual Non-eTIMS CSV.

Upload the file. The system will scan for errors, flag any invalid PINs for correction, and make the expenses available for inclusion in your return. Once uploaded, proceed with the rest of your filing as normal.

If you are unsure about the CSV format, KRA has published templates and guidelines on its website. Your tax agent or accountant should also be familiar with the process.

The bigger picture

This update is part of a broader pattern of KRA adjusting iTax based on real-world feedback from taxpayers and practitioners. The eTIMS rollout has been ambitious but uneven. Many businesses onboarded quickly. Others, particularly in the informal and semi-formal sectors, struggled. The gap between what the system demanded and what the economy could deliver was real.

Making the supplier PIN optional does not fix everything. It does not bring informal traders onto eTIMS. It does not solve the broader challenge of digitising transactions in a cash-heavy economy. But it removes one of the most common barriers that prevented honest taxpayers from filing complete returns.

For a tax authority that has spent the last two years tightening compliance and automating validation, this is a notable concession to reality. It says, in effect: we know the economy is not fully formal yet, and we will not punish you for that while we work on getting there.

The June 30 deadline is approaching. If you have been holding back expenses because of PIN-related obstacles, now is the time to revisit your filing.

This article is based on updates deployed on the iTax platform in May 2026 and KRA's published guidelines on eTIMS expense validation for the 2025 year of income.