Which Records KRA Expects and How Long to Keep Them

Keep your tax records for at least five years from the end of the reporting period they relate to. That is the rule in section 23 of the Tax Procedures Act. Keep them longer where KRA has amended an assessment or a dispute is still running, and if you run a company, plan on seven years for your accounting records.

How the time is counted

The clock starts when the reporting period ends, not when you created the document.

For example, a December year-end business with records for the 2026 income tax year should keep them until at least 31 December 2031. A VAT invoice in the January 2027 return should be kept until at least 31 January 2032.

Five years is not random. KRA can generally amend an assessment within five years of when you filed the return, under section 31(4). Where there is gross or wilful neglect, evasion or fraud, it can do so at any time.

When you must keep records longer

Situation	How long	Source
The document relates to an amended assessment	Until the period for further amending it has passed	Tax Procedures Act, s. 23(3)(a)
The document is needed for a proceeding that started within the five years	Until all proceedings are finished	Tax Procedures Act, s. 23(3)(b)
VAT records	Five years from the date of the last entry in the record	VAT Act, s. 43
Export declarations for imports	Five years from the date of importation	Tax Procedures Act, s. 23B
A company’s accounting records	At least seven years from when they were created	Companies Act 2015, s. 630

Where more than one period applies, keep to the longest. The seven-year rule is company law, not tax law, but your books serve both.

What KRA expects you to keep

The law does not give one complete list. Section 23 requires you to keep documents so that your tax can be “readily ascertained”, and the Act defines a document widely: books of account, bank statements, receipts, invoices, vouchers, contracts, returns, customs declarations and electronic data.

In practice, keep these:

• Sales: eTIMS invoices in serial number order, plus credit and debit notes. Section 43 of the VAT Act lists these for VAT-registered businesses.
• Purchases and expenses: supplier invoices, customs entries and proof of payment. An expense without an eTIMS invoice can be disallowed under section 16(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, unless an exemption applies. See our eTIMS guide.
• Money: bank and M-Pesa statements, and your cash book. Business and personal money should be kept separate, or your statements will be hard to explain.
• Payroll: contracts, payroll records, P9 forms and proof of PAYE payments.
• Withholding tax: certificates for tax deducted from you, and proof of what you deducted from others.
• Assets and big deals: purchase agreements, title documents and valuations, along with loan agreements.
• Filing: copies of every return, acknowledgement and payment slip, plus all letters from KRA.

The rules on form

• Language: English or Kiswahili. KRA can require a translation of anything else at your expense.
• Currency: Kenya shillings, under section 23(2). A narrow exception exists for some non-residents on digital marketplaces.
• Format: paper or electronic. Data on an electronic device counts as a document. If you rely on scans, make sure they are complete and backed up, and keep originals of title documents and signed contracts.

What missing records can cost

• A penalty. Section 82 sets 10 percent of the tax payable for that period, or KES 100,000 where no tax is payable.
• An offence. Under section 93, failing to keep documents without reasonable excuse is an offence, and so is keeping false ones.
• A lost dispute. In an objection or appeal, section 56(1) puts the burden on you to prove KRA is wrong. KRA can also require you to produce documents by notice under section 59. Without records, there is little to support an objection.

A simple setup

1. Use one system. A folder for each month, split into sales, purchases, bank, payroll and KRA. Our bookkeeping basics explain how to set this up.
2. File as you go. Photograph or scan paper receipts in the same week, as thermal paper fades.
3. Mark a delete date on each year’s folder, and check for open assessments or disputes before anything goes.
4. Have someone test it. Pick a random expense from last year and find its invoice and payment. If it takes more than a few minutes, you would struggle in a KRA audit.

If your records have gaps, our accounting team can help you rebuild them.