Nairobi — Absa Bank Kenya has signed a partnership with electronic payments and infrastructure company, Interswitch to provide financial support to small businesses to acquire the new electronic tax registers.

As part of the partnership, Interswitch will supply the devices and provide any requisite technical support to customers who will acquire the devices.

This comes ahead of the November 30 deadline for all VAT-registered businesses to acquire the online Tax Invoice Management System (TIMS) device.

VAT-registered taxpayers are required to fully transition to using Electronic Tax Registers that meet the requirements outlined in the Electronic Tax Invoice (ETI) Regulations 2020, failure to which they risk a Sh1 million fine, or a jail term of three years.

The move is aimed at enhancing VAT compliance, minimizing fiscal fraud, and increasing tax revenue.

Speaking during the unveiling of the agreement, Absa Bank Kenya Business Banking Director Elizabeth Wasunna said the partnership supports the government's agenda to increase revenue collections while also enabling SMEs customers to comply with the KRA requirements without putting a strain on their cash flows, given the difficult operating environment.

"We fully understand the difficult times that our SME customers are facing due to the challenging operating landscape, and as their partner for growth, we are committed to continuing to walk the journey with them during this tough phase as the economy begins to recover from the pandemic's impact and general slowdown in the macroeconomic circumstances," Wasunna said.

Daniel Kiriungi from Interswitch hailed Absa for coming out strongly to support businesses to thrive by giving them the necessary support for compliance purposes.