Introduction
A KRA PIN checker is a tool on the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) iTax portal. It confirms whether a PIN was generated by KRA's Domestic Taxes Department system and is in Active status. You enter the PIN and a security code, and iTax returns basic taxpayer details.
Most guides stop there. For a bank, fintech or lender in Kenya, a PIN is more than a number on a certificate. It ties a customer to a registered taxpayer record, which makes it useful evidence in a Know Your Customer (KYC) file. This guide shows how to check a PIN and how to recover a forgotten one. It also explains how regulated businesses validate PINs at onboarding.
What Is a KRA PIN?
KRA describes a PIN as the number used when conducting business with KRA, other government agencies and service providers. The term covers companies, clubs and trusts as well as individuals. A sole proprietor uses the proprietor's individual PIN.
Under the Tax Procedures Act, 2015, the Commissioner issues a PIN to a registered person. The Act requires registered persons to use a PIN for tax-law purposes. It also provides for PIN requirements in specified transactions, subject to applicable exemptions.
KRA lists land title registration, motor vehicle registration and company registration among the transactions that need a PIN. The list also includes Value Added Tax (VAT) registration, imports, insurance underwriting and government supply contracts. A separate KRA guide also lists opening a bank account.
What Does a KRA PIN Look Like?
A KRA PIN is an 11-character identifier: a leading letter, nine digits and a closing letter. Individual and sole-proprietor PINs generally begin with A, while company and other entity PINs generally begin with P. An individual's PIN follows a pattern such as A123456789X.
This pattern matters for one reason. A format check only proves that a string looks like a PIN. It cannot show that KRA ever issued it.
How to Check a KRA PIN Online
The public PIN Checker on KRA's iTax portal lets a user submit a PIN for a basic status check. The process is short.
First, open the PIN Checker page. Second, type the PIN exactly as it appears on the certificate. Third, solve the security stamp. KRA's page asks you to enter the result of a short arithmetic sum. Fourth, click Consult.
iTax then tells you whether the PIN was generated by KRA's Domestic Taxes Department system and is in Active status. KRA says the result is limited to basic details of the taxpayer.
The checker does not show whether the taxpayer files returns on time. It also does not confirm that a Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC) is valid. iTax offers a separate check for tax compliance and exemption certificates.
Can You Check a KRA PIN Using an ID Number?
The public iTax PIN Checker does not provide an ID-number search field. If you have forgotten your PIN, use KRA's official recovery channels. These include iTax, the published USSD route, the M-Service app where available, or a KRA office or Huduma Centre.
How to Find or Recover a Forgotten KRA PIN
Your route depends on what you have forgotten. If you know the PIN but have lost the certificate, log in to iTax, open the Registration tab and choose Reprint my Certificate. Select whether you are the taxpayer or an agent, then submit to download the certificate. KRA says this works on computers, laptops, tablets and phones.
If you have forgotten the PIN itself, logging in is difficult, because iTax asks for a PIN or user ID. KRA's iTax enhancement notes for November and December 2025 describe a USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) route. Dial *222# for eCitizen, select KRA Services, then 98 for more, then Other Services, then option 5. Recovery works where your phone number is registered with your ID number. USSD menus can change, so confirm the current route through KRA's official channels.
KRA has also published guidance on checking a PIN or TCC through the M-Service app. Menus and services may change, so confirm the feature is available and use only official listings. If none of these routes works, contact KRA, a Tax Support Office or a Huduma Centre.
Be Careful With Unofficial Checkers
Handing your ID number and phone details to an unknown site carries risk. In April 2026, Kenyans.co.ke reported that KRA had warned taxpayers against leaving tax information with cyber cafes. The same report quoted a tax expert warning that people were hunting for other people's PINs to support fake expense claims. Use KRA's own channels, and avoid posting your PIN on social media.
Why Businesses Should Not Rely on a Manual PIN Check
For a person checking their own PIN, the iTax page is enough. For a bank, lender, payment company or marketplace onboarding thousands of Kenyans, it is not.
1. The public checker works one PIN at a time and sits behind a security stamp. Staff who key in PINs by hand introduce typing errors. A screenshot of the result is also a weak audit record, because anyone can edit an image.
2. Documents can be forged or altered. A certificate a customer supplies is only a claim, not conclusive proof. Where possible, verify the underlying record through an authorised official or service-provider channel, and keep the verification result.
3. Some genuine PINs carry no filing duties at all. KRA issues a PIN Without Obligation (PWO) to individuals with no taxable activity. A PWO PIN does not qualify for a Tax Compliance Certificate. A genuine PIN therefore does not, by itself, show current tax standing.
4. Rules are also shifting. KRA's summary of the Finance Act 2026 lists a PIN exemption for certain non-residents opening accounts with investment banks and financial institutions. Confirm whether the applicant falls within the exemption before making a PIN mandatory in every onboarding flow.
5. Checking a PIN involves processing personal data. Institutions should document an appropriate lawful basis under Kenya's data-protection framework and provide the required privacy information. They should also limit access to the result. Where the verification service requires it, they should keep evidence of the customer's authorisation.
What a Proper PIN Verification Should Prove
A proper onboarding check answers three questions. Does the PIN exist and is it active? Does it belong to this customer, meaning the name and ID number on the tax record match the identity the customer declared? And, where the product demands it, is the customer's tax standing current?
A PIN lookup can help show whether the PIN exists and whether the returned details match the customer's submission. It does not establish beneficial ownership, tax compliance or the customer's overall risk profile. Tax standing needs a TCC check. For company customers, match the entity PIN, which generally begins with P, against the registered company name and registration details. Youverify's guide to business verification in Kenya covers that process.
These checks sit inside wider customer due diligence duties under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act (POCAMLA), 2009. POCAMLA requires reporting institutions to verify customer identity and report suspicious transactions to the Financial Reporting Centre. Our guides to KYC and POCAMLA compliance in Kenya and customer due diligence requirements in Kenya explain those duties in full. A KRA PIN check is one possible verification input. It does not replace the full customer-identification, beneficial-ownership, screening, risk-assessment and record-keeping controls that the AML framework requires.
How to Automate KRA PIN Validation at Onboarding
Automation removes the manual steps. Your system sends the PIN to a verification service, with the customer's authorisation where the service requires it. The service queries the tax record and returns the result to your onboarding workflow, where it is stored as evidence.
According to Youverify's API documentation, the Verify Tax PIN service for Kenya checks whether a tax PIN exists. It can return taxpayer information such as name, ID number, PIN status and registration obligations. The request must include the subject-consent field set to true. An invalid PIN returns a not-found reason. Results should still be matched against independent identity evidence.
Teams can pair it with national ID checks so that a PIN result is matched against identity evidence. Our guide to verifying an ID number in Kenya shows how. Stronger onboarding also helps reduce exposure to identity fraud in Kenya.
To see the Verify Tax PIN API inside a live onboarding flow, speak with a Youverify compliance and identity verification expert. Developers can read the Verify Tax PIN documentation.
Bottom Line
The iTax PIN Checker is the right tool for an individual who wants to confirm a single PIN. For regulated businesses, a genuine PIN is only the first fact in a KYC or Know Your Business (KYB) file. Verify that the PIN exists, match it to the customer, keep the customer's authorisation where required, and store the result as evidence.
About the Author
Victoria Okere is a compliance content writer at Youverify, specializing in AML compliance, financial crime risk, regulatory technology, and emerging trends in financial services.
