Kenya Payroll Statutory Returns in 2026: PAYE, NSSF, SHIF, Housing Levy and NITA Before the 9th
Five deductions, four portals, one deadline. The current Kenyan rates, a worked example on a KES 100,000 salary, and a monthly routine that gets every return filed and paid by the 9th.
Every Kenyan employer runs the same race each month. Pay staff, then — by the 9th of the following month — declare and pay PAYE to KRA, contributions to NSSF, SHIF to the Social Health Authority, the Affordable Housing Levy, and the NITA levy. Miss the date and penalties and interest start immediately.
This guide sets out the current rates, shows how they combine on a real salary, and gives you a monthly routine that makes the 9th a non-event.
The five deductions at a glance
| Deduction | Employee | Employer | Paid to |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE | Progressive bands, 10%–35%, less KES 2,400 personal relief | — | KRA (iTax) |
| NSSF | 6% of pay up to KES 108,000 (max KES 6,480) | Matches employee | NSSF |
| SHIF | 2.75% of gross, minimum KES 300 | — | Social Health Authority |
| Affordable Housing Levy | 1.5% of gross | 1.5% of gross | KRA |
| NITA | — | KES 50 per employee | NITA |
All five are due by the 9th of the following month.
PAYE bands
| Monthly taxable pay (KES) | Rate |
|---|---|
| First 24,000 | 10% |
| Next 8,333 (24,001–32,333) | 25% |
| Next 467,667 (32,334–500,000) | 30% |
| Next 300,000 (500,001–800,000) | 32.5% |
| Above 800,000 | 35% |
Personal relief is KES 2,400 a month. The employee's NSSF contribution is deducted before PAYE is calculated, and since the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2024 took effect on 27 December 2024, so are SHIF and the Housing Levy. That lowers the tax bill.
NSSF in 2026
From 1 February 2026 (year four of the NSSF Act 2013 schedule), contributions are 6% from the employee and 6% from the employer on two tiers:
- Tier I — the first KES 9,000 of pay: up to KES 540 each.
- Tier II — pay from KES 9,000 to KES 108,000: up to KES 5,940 each.
So anyone earning KES 108,000 or more contributes the maximum KES 6,480, matched by the employer.
Worked example: KES 100,000 gross a month
| Gross pay | 100,000.00 |
| NSSF (540 + 5,460) | − 6,000.00 |
| SHIF (2.75%) | − 2,750.00 |
| Housing Levy (1.5%) | − 1,500.00 |
| Taxable pay | 89,750.00 |
| Tax: 2,400.00 + 2,083.25 + 17,225.10 | 21,708.35 |
| Less personal relief | − 2,400.00 |
| PAYE | 19,308.35 |
| Net pay | 70,441.65 |
On top of the salary, the employer pays NSSF KES 6,000, Housing Levy KES 1,500 and NITA KES 50 — a total employment cost of KES 107,550. Try other salaries in the Kenya payroll calculator.
What each return looks like
- PAYE — the P10 return, uploaded to iTax using KRA's Excel workbook, then paid against a payment slip.
- Housing Levy — declared and paid to KRA alongside PAYE.
- NSSF — a contribution schedule uploaded to the NSSF employer portal.
- SHIF — a contribution file uploaded to the Social Health Authority portal.
- NITA — KES 50 per employee, paid to NITA.
A monthly routine that beats the 9th
- By the 25th — lock attendance, overtime, new joiners, leavers and pay changes.
- Payroll day — run payroll, review it, and have a second person approve it. In SmartHR a run moves from draft to approved; it can be sent back to draft for corrections only until it is approved.
- Pay staff — export the bank payment file and release salaries; post the ledger journal to your accounts.
- By the 5th — download the returns: the filled KRA P10 workbook for iTax, the NSSF upload file, the SHA/SHIF upload file, and summaries for Housing Levy and NITA. Upload each one to its portal.
- By the 9th — pay every slip, and file the payment confirmations with the month's payroll.
Leaving four days between upload and the deadline gives you time to fix a rejected file or a portal outage without paying a penalty.
When rates change
Kenyan payroll rates changed several times between 2024 and 2026 — new PAYE treatment of SHIF and the Housing Levy, the switch from NHIF to SHIF, and the yearly NSSF steps. SmartHR stores each rate with the date it takes effect and switches to the new rate automatically on that date, so a February run uses February's NSSF limits without anyone editing a spreadsheet. Always confirm current rates on the KRA, NSSF and SHA websites before you file.
Read the full Kenya PAYE guide and the Kenya HR compliance checklist, see pricing in KES, or book a demo and we'll run a sample Kenyan payroll with you.
Automate Kenya Payroll
SmartHR Africa handles all Kenya statutory compliance automatically on every payroll run.