eTIMS Invoice Status: Pending, Failed, Retrying, Submitted
Short answer: Share an eTIMS invoice as final only when the status is submitted or accepted by KRA. Pending and retrying mean the invoice is not final yet. Failed means something needs to be fixed before the buyer receives a valid tax receipt.
How Risiti Handles These Statuses
Risiti is built for the messy part of eTIMS: weak internet, KRA downtime, and failed submissions. If you create an invoice while offline, Risiti saves it to a local queue on your device. When the connection comes back, the app flushes the queue and submits the invoice to KRA automatically.
If KRA rejects or cannot process an invoice, Risiti marks it as failed with the error message. A background job checks failed KRA submissions every 5 minutes, marks them as retrying, and re-submits them. For invoice-number collisions, Risiti can reassign the number and retry without forcing you to rebuild the invoice.
What this means in practice
You can keep selling even when internet or KRA is unreliable. Risiti separates invoice creation from KRA submission, then keeps working in the background until the invoice is submitted or needs your correction.
Status Meaning and Action
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The invoice is saved but has not been submitted to KRA. | Review details, then submit. |
| Pending | The invoice has been created and is waiting for KRA submission or response. | Do not share as final. Wait or let auto-retry continue. |
| Submitted | KRA accepted the invoice. | Download the PDF and share with the buyer. |
| Failed | KRA rejected the invoice or the request failed. | Fix the error, then retry. |
| Retrying | The system is trying again after a failed or unavailable KRA response. | Wait for success or review the error if retries keep failing. |
Why Pending Invoices Should Not Be Shared as Final
A pending invoice may look complete inside your app, but KRA has not accepted it yet. If you send it too early, the buyer may keep a document that does not validate later. Risiti's retry queue is built to avoid this: it keeps trying until KRA accepts the invoice or shows a fixable error.
Common Failed Invoice Causes
Invalid seller or buyer KRA PIN
Missing item code or item classification data
Wrong tax type for the business or item
Totals do not add up correctly
KRA eTIMS service is temporarily unavailable
Duplicate invoice number
Frequently Asked Questions
What does pending mean on an eTIMS invoice?
Pending means the invoice is waiting for KRA submission or KRA confirmation. Do not treat it as a final tax receipt until it is accepted.
What does submitted mean on an eTIMS invoice?
Submitted means KRA accepted the invoice. You can download and share the receipt with the buyer.
What should I do when an eTIMS invoice fails?
Check the error, correct the invoice details, and retry. Common causes include invalid PIN, wrong tax type, missing item data, or KRA downtime.