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Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, launched its VAT and Tax Invoice Management Systems (TIMS) compliant, accounting software, Zoho Books to help businesses in Kenya prepare for the upcoming implementation of TIMS, smoothen the transition and ensure compliance.

“Kenya is a key market for us, and we are continuing to invest in creating solutions that will help businesses in their digitalisation journey,” said Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head, Zoho Kenya. “We launched ZADE in June to reduce access barriers to technology for MSMEs, and have already seen over 100 subscriptions. Now, in continuation of our commitment to the market, we are launching the localised version of our accounting solution, Zoho Books, to help businesses manage their finances and stay tax compliant.”

“Zoho Books has been in the market for the past 11 years. We have gained deep expertise in continually solving accounting challenges, and tax and regulatory compliance for businesses worldwide,” said Prashant Ganti, Head of Product Management, Zoho Finance Suite. “We have also seen a growing adoption of Zoho Books in the region. This has further strengthened our resolve to provide Kenyan businesses with a one-stop solution to manage their finances. Zoho Books’ built-in features enable businesses to simplify VAT-filing and TIMS compliance, and gain deep visibility into their finances.”

According to Kenya Business Guide, there are 1.56 Million licensed MSMEs businesses in Kenya. As per the new TIMS regulation, all VAT-registered businesses are required to report each invoice and credit note to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in real time. Businesses will need to create electronic tax invoices with the mandated fields and format, and push it to the KRA. In addition, the current VAT-filing process requires businesses to manually fill in 11 sheets with transaction details in the VAT Return Form-3.

With the capabilities of Zoho Books launched today, businesses will have an end-to-end accounting solution that will help create TIMS-compliant invoices and push to the KRA in just a few clicks. The accounting software will also generate the VAT Return Form-3 filled-in automatically, which can then be used for filing the returns, thereby simplifying tax compliance and saving time.

Zoho Books is a comprehensive, cloud-based accounting software that helps businesses take care of their finance, perform core accounting functions, track stocks, reconcile bank accounts, manage projects, and keep them VAT/e-invoicing compliant. The software also comes with other advanced capabilities like built-in order management, budgeting, workflow automation, customisations, advanced business analytics, and more.

Since the pandemic, the global edition of Zoho Books in the Kenya region has seen a 318% increase in new customers, and nearly 100% increase in revenue. With the Kenya edition of Zoho Books, businesses will now have a VAT and TIMS compliant solution that empowers businesses to work remotely or in hybrid mode.

Along with Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory and Zoho Invoice can also help businesses with VAT-compliance. Businesses that sell products can use Zoho Inventory to facilitate multichannel sales, manage their order-to-cash process, and raise VAT and TIMS compliant invoices. Smaller businesses that are looking for a free, simple invoicing solution can use Zoho Invoice to customize and send professional-looking invoices that are VAT and TIMS compliant.

Pricing and Availability

Zoho Books has a generous free plan that comes with VAT and TIMS capabilities, and is available for use immediately. The pricing plan starts at KSh 849 per organisation, per month (billed annually). Businesses that sign up within the next 6 months will get a perpetual special discount of 40% on all paid plans.