Every demo looks good. What separates software you will still be using in three years from a subscription you quietly stop opening is a short list of questions — including the ones a salesperson would rather you asked later.
This is the question that eliminates most of the field. Ask to see a VAT annexure produced from posted transactions, in the format the RRA expects. If the answer involves exporting to Excel and rearranging columns, you are buying a ledger and keeping the compliance work.
VAT-registered taxpayers in Rwanda have invoiced through the EBM/EIS since 2021. No software replaces the device, but the invoice number should live on the sale in your books, so the device and the ledger can be reconciled at month-end instead of argued about at audit.
Progressive PAYE bands, 6%+6% pension, 7.5%+7.5% medical, 0.3%+0.3% maternity, 2% occupational hazard, 0.5% CBHI on net. If the tool cannot do these, payroll stays in a spreadsheet, and so does the risk. Ask whether a payroll run posts a journal into the same ledger, or produces a file someone re-keys.
Plenty of cheap tools are transaction lists with reports bolted on. Ask to see a trial balance, a general ledger, and what happens when someone edits a posted invoice: a real system records a traceable correction, it does not quietly change history. Your auditor, your bank and your future self all depend on that difference.
You should be able to keep your existing account numbers, post your opening balances as a dated journal, and bring across enough history that last year still compares to this one. Ask who does the migration, what it costs, and whether you get a side-by-side reconciliation to sign off — you should sign off the cutover, not the vendor.
One shared password is the fastest way to lose an audit trail, and the most common control weakness in small Rwandan businesses. Check that a cashier, a storekeeper, an accountant and an owner can each have a role that fits the job — and that the accountant you invite does not cost you a full extra seat.
Compare the annual total, in francs, with the modules you will genuinely switch on — the counter, the warehouse, payroll, the rooms. Then ask the awkward ones: is there a card required to trial it, a minimum contract, a charge for VAT or exchange rates, a per-user fee that grows faster than your team?
Filing deadlines do not move for timezones. Ask what hours support runs, on which channels, and whether the person who answers has ever filed a Rwandan return. A same-continent working day is worth more than a polished help centre.
Ask how you export your ledgers, invoices, contacts and reports — and whether you can still do it on the day you decide to leave. Software that makes leaving hard is telling you something about how it expects to keep you.
A shortcut for the shortlist. Ask each vendor to produce, from a handful of test transactions: a VAT annexure, a payslip with all six deductions, and a trial balance. Three artefacts, one afternoon. Whoever cannot is selling you the demo, not the product.
If you want to run those tests against us: the modules are here, the prices are here, and the switching process is here — including who does the migration and what comes across. Start the trial with an email address; no card, and nobody will call you unless you ask.
Start free, bring a month of real transactions, and judge the reports.