The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has taken a major step toward bringing the ride-hailing industry into full tax compliance by linking its electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) with Little Cab, making it possible for Kenyans to use digital taxi receipts as legitimate tax-deductible expenses when filing returns.
Little Cab becomes the first ride-hailing platform in Kenya to complete this integration with KRA’s eTIMS, though the taxman has confirmed that other operators in the sector are in the process of coming on board. The move signals a broader push by KRA to rope the gig economy and digital transport sector firmly into the formal tax net.
For years, ride-hailing apps have issued automatic trip receipts to passengers, but those documents held little weight with KRA and could not be used as supporting documentation when filing business expense deductions. That has now changed, driven in part by amendments introduced under the Finance Act 2025, which requires taxpayers to back up all deductible business expenses with eTIMS-generated invoices rather than ordinary platform receipts.
KRA’s Caroline Wacuka spelled out the significance of the development: “Businesses now are required to support their expenses with eTIMS invoices, so this is very relevant for purposes of VAT and income tax filing.” Her remarks highlight just how central this integration is to the government’s wider tax compliance agenda, particularly as the digital economy continues to grow rapidly across the country.
The change is particularly welcome for Little Cab’s corporate and B2B clients, who have long been unable to claim business travel conducted via the app as a deductible expense. With the new integration in place, those rides now generate KRA-compliant invoices that can be presented during tax filings, making the process far more straightforward for companies tracking and managing employee travel costs.
The benefits extend well beyond the corporate world. Self-employed professionals, freelancers, and contractors who regularly use ride-hailing services for client meetings, site visits, or other business-related trips can now include such fares in their expense claims with confidence, backed by documentation that KRA will accept during audits or tax assessments.
As KRA continues to tighten oversight of the digital economy, the eTIMS-Little Cab integration is widely seen as just the opening move. With other ride-hailing platforms expected to follow suit in the coming months, Kenya’s fast-growing digital transport sector is clearly heading toward a far more tax-transparent future — one trip at a time.
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