Local Kenya expertise
Our African payroll specialists configure and run your payroll — one team, one accountable contract.
Popay Payroll · Kenya PopayPayroll
Payroll in Kenya, handled the local way.
PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the Affordable Housing Levy — applied automatically to Kenyan law, not bolted on.
Local Kenya expertise. The people who run your payroll know Kenyan HR from the inside — the Employment Act 2007, KRA, iTax and the P10/P9 filings, no shortcuts.
Talk to our African payroll team No commitment — a working conversation about your team in Kenya.
KE
KE Nairobi · East Africa — payroll built for Kenyan law
Calculate your Kenya payroll
See real Kenya net pay in seconds — PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the Housing Levy computed with the same engine that runs payroll across Africa.
Our legislation team is updating the figures — the live simulator for this country will publish soon.Understand HR in Kenya
Everything Kenya payroll asks of an employer — in one place.
The full local picture for Kenya: statutory contributions and the rules our engine runs natively — maintained by our Pan-African legislation team.
01 · At a glance
Kenya payroll, by the numbers
The fixed parameters every Kenya payroll run starts from.
Capital
Nairobi
Local Currency
Kenyan Shilling (KES, Ksh)
Official Language
English
Payroll Frequency
Monthly
Employer Contributions
7.5% + KShs.50 Flat Levy
Minimum Wage
KShs.16,113.75 per month
Contract Termination
Mandatory only on redundancy, 15 days' salary per completed year of service
Employee Protection
Moderate
02 · Taxation, social contributions & retirement
Social contributions in Kenya
Declared and paid monthly by the employer to the NSSF (pension), SHIF (health), the Affordable Housing Levy and the NITA training levy — each with its own base, rate and ceiling.
| Scheme | Employer | Employee | Basis & notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSSF — National Social Security FundTiered (Tier I/II); max ≈ 4,320 each | 6% | 6% | 72,000 KES/month |
| SHIF — Social Health Insurance FundMin 300 KES; replaced NHIF Oct 2024 | 0% | 2.75% | No ceiling |
| AHL — Affordable Housing LevyStatutory (2024) — verify in engine | 1.5% | 1.5% | No ceiling |
| PAYE — income tax | Withheld at source | Progressive (up to 35%) | — |
NSSF pensionable ceiling 72,000 KES/month (tiered); SHIF 2.75% of gross (min 300). AHL flagged for engine confirmation.
03 · Statutory filing and payment deadlines
Filing deadlines and late-payment penalties
Most mandatory returns are due by the 9th of the following month — miss it, and automatic penalties, from 25% for late PAYE filing to SHIF fines, add up fast.
| Statutory body | Late filing penalty | Deadline | Late payment penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE — iTax Unified P10 form | 25% of tax due or KES 10,000 (whichever is higher) | 9th of the following month | 5% of tax due + 1% interest per month |
| AHL — Affordable Housing Levy | Filed via the PAYE return | 9th of the following month (iTax Unified P10) | 3% of the unpaid amount per month |
| SHIF — Social Health Insurance Fund | Not strictly defined | 9th of the following month | Fines up to KES 2M, imprisonment up to 3 years, or both |
| NSSF — National Social Security Fund | Not strictly defined | 9th of the following month | 5% + 1% monthly interest on the unpaid amount |
| NITA — National Industrial Training Authority | Not strictly defined | 9th of the following month (iTax Unified P10) | 5% of the amount due |
| HELB — Higher Education Loans Board | KES 3,000 / month for failing to notify HELB of a loanee | 15th of the following month | 5% of the total repayment amount per month unpaid |
PAYE, AHL and NITA are submitted together through the Unified P10 return on iTax. NSSF and SHIF are filed separately — but all share the same 9th-of-the-month deadline.
04 · Employment contracts
The five contract types set out by the Employment Act
Any contract lasting more than three months must be in writing, and each of Kenya's five contract types has its own notice and termination rules.
Permanent (Indefinite)
Fixed-Term
Probationary
Casual
Piece-Work
05 · Leave & employee rights
Leave entitlements set by the Employment Act
The law guarantees statutory minimums for annual, maternity, paternity, pre-adoption and sick leave — the entitlements your accruals have to track.
Maternity Leave
Paternity Leave
Pre-adoptive Leave
Annual Leave
Sick Leave
06 · Unions & collective bargaining
The sector CBA that applies to your workforce
Sector unions negotiate wages, allowances and termination terms through Collective Bargaining Agreements that feed straight into your payroll — applying the right one is part of compliance.
KNUT — Kenya National Union of Teachers
Education (primary & secondary). CBAs drive salary scales, housing allowance, commuter allowance and hardship allowance.
KUPPET — Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers
Education (secondary & tertiary). Negotiates salary increments, leave allowances and promotion criteria.
KNUN — Kenya National Union of Nurses & Midwives
Healthcare. Sets risk allowances, uniform allowances, overtime rates and on-call premiums.
KUDHEIHA
Domestic, hotels, hospitals and education institutions. Covers minimum wages, service-charge distribution, overtime and housing.
KPAWU — Kenya Plantation & Agricultural Workers Union
Agriculture, tea, coffee and floriculture. Governs piece-rate wages, seasonal bonuses, housing and transport.
Kenya County Government Workers Union
County government across the 47 counties. Negotiates salary structures, transfer allowances and hardship zones.
COTU-K — umbrella body
All sectors — 42 affiliated unions representing close to 4 million workers. Leads national minimum wage advocacy and cross-sector policy (6% increase gazetted Oct 2024). CBAs typically run on a two-year cycle.
07 · Employer compliance checklist
What a compliant Kenyan employer must keep
Itemised payslips, KRA returns and accurate working-time records: this is where compliance is proven — all of it defined by the Employment Act and KRA deadlines.
Payslips & record keepingEmployment Act 2007
- Itemised payslip for every employeeGross salary, each statutory deduction (PAYE, NSSF, SHIF, AHL, NITA, HELB, Sacco where applicable) and net pay — delivered on or before the salary payment date
- Payroll records retainedTimesheets, payslips and statutory returns kept for at least 5 years
- Non-complianceFines up to KSh 100,000 or imprisonment up to 2 years
Tax filings (KRA / iTax)KRA — iTax platform
- PAYE remitted via iTaxBy the 9th of the following month, filed monthly on the P10 form
- P9 Form (Tax Deduction Certificate)Issued to every employee after year-end; enables personal returns by 30 June and summarises gross pay, NSSF/SHIF deductions and total PAYE
Working hours & overtimeEmployment Act 2007
- Standard working time8 to 9 hours per day, statutory maximum 52 hours/week; never more than 116 hours over two consecutive weeks (overtime included)
- Overtime rates1.5× the hourly rate on weekdays, 2.0× on rest days and public holidays
Native Kenya payroll — and one accountable partner.
We own the gross-to-net engine
Kenyan rules — PAYE bands, NSSF tiers, SHIF, AHL and NITA — are configured natively inside our engine, not stitched from third-party aggregators.
Always current
Regulatory changes — the SHIF Act, Affordable Housing Act and NSSF phase-in — are monitored and your configuration updated, so every payslip stays compliant.
Meet Jacob Louis, your Popay expert in Kenya.
In HR, personal contact is everything — and it starts from the first exchange. Tell us about your team in Kenya and we'll map your options, plainly and without commitment.
Popay helped us simplify managing our workforce across Kenya — payroll, statutory filings and compliance in one place. Reliable, efficient, and always current with local law.
Kenya payroll, answered
Does Popay handle PAYE and the statutory filings in Kenya?
Yes. We remit PAYE to KRA through iTax and file the monthly Unified P10 return — which carries PAYE, the Affordable Housing Levy and the NITA levy together — by the 9th of the following month, with NSSF and SHIF filed on the same deadline and P9 certificates issued to employees after year-end.
Which Kenyan contributions do you calculate?
All of them: NSSF at 6% employer and 6% employee on the tiered pensionable pay (up to the KShs 108,000 ceiling), the Affordable Housing Levy at 1.5% each side, SHIF at 2.75% of gross (employee-only, minimum KES 300) and the NITA levy of KShs 50 per employee — plus HELB and Sacco deductions where they apply.
Can Popay produce a fully compliant Kenyan payslip?
Yes. Payslips are itemised as the Employment Act 2007 requires — gross salary, every statutory deduction (PAYE, NSSF, SHIF, AHL, NITA, HELB, Sacco) and net pay — delivered on or before the payment date, with payroll records retained for at least five years.
Do you have a team for Kenya?
Yes — a local team led by our Kenya expert Jacob Louis, who knows the Employment Act, KRA and the evolving SHIF, Housing Levy and NSSF rules from the inside. The people who configure and run your payroll are in your time zone.
Do you apply the right collective bargaining agreement?
Yes. Kenya's sectoral unions — from KNUT and KUPPET in education to KNUN in healthcare and KPAWU in agriculture, under the COTU-K umbrella — negotiate CBAs that set allowances, overtime premiums and benefits. We map the relevant sectoral CBA to your configuration so every calculation is correct.
Review your HR needs in Kenya — in 30 minutes.
Questions about payroll, local compliance or digitising your processes? Take a no-commitment slot with Jacob Louis, our dedicated Kenya expert. Plain, specific, useful.
