Kenya · Deadlines
Payroll deadlines in Kenya
Kenyan employers remit PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the Affordable Housing Levy by the 9th of the month following payroll, through the KRA’s iTax P10 return. Missing that date is what turns a payroll error into a penalty, so the deadline — not the calculation — is usually what a compliance calendar is built around.
The date that matters
PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy are remitted by the 9th of the month following payroll, through KRA’s iTax P10 return.
That single sentence is the spine of a Kenyan payroll calendar. Everything else — when you close attendance, when you run payroll, when you approve it — is scheduled backwards from it, because a correct payroll filed late is still a penalty.
“Filed” means several submissions, not one
The deductions on a Kenyan payslip are collected by 4 different bodies. They share a monthly rhythm, but they are not one submission to one place:
- Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)
- National Social Security Fund (NSSF)
- Social Health Authority (SHA)
- National Industrial Training Authority (NITA)
This is the part that catches employers who think of compliance as “doing the PAYE return”. The P10 is one obligation among several that fall in the same week.
What is due, and to whom
Every statutory item on a Kenyan payslip, who collects it, and its current rate — rendered from our statutory dataset:
| Deduction | Authority | Paid by | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE Pay As You Earn | Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) | Employee | Graduated 10%–35% across five monthly bands, with personal relief of KES 2,400 per month Source · in force from 2023-07-01 |
| NSSF National Social Security Fund | National Social Security Fund (NSSF) | Employer + employee | 6% employee + 6% employer, on pensionable pay up to KES 108,000/month (Year 4 rates) Source · in force from 2026-02-01 |
| SHIF Social Health Insurance Fund | Social Health Authority (SHA) | Employee | 2.75% of gross pay, minimum KES 300/month, no upper cap Source · in force from 2024-10-01 |
| Housing Levy Affordable Housing Levy | Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) | Employer + employee | 1.5% employee + 1.5% employer of gross pay, no cap Source · in force from 2024-03-19 Sources disagree. In force under the Affordable Housing Act 2024, which the High Court upheld. A consolidated constitutional challenge was heard by a five-judge Court of Appeal bench on 19 January 2026 and, as at 14 July 2026, no judgment has been published. The levy stands until one is. This is the only genuinely unresolved rate on the site. |
| NITA levy National Industrial Training Levy | National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) | Employer | KES 50 per employee per month, employer-paid Source Sources disagree. Remittance frequency is unclear: the levy is quoted per employee per month but reported by some sources as payable annually. |
Rates last reviewed 2026-07-14 against Kenya Revenue Authority and other official sources. Where authorities genuinely conflict, both readings are shown rather than resolved. Statutory rates change with every finance act — confirm current figures with a local practitioner before relying on them. PayrollMaster applies the current rates centrally, so your payroll run does not depend on this table being fresh.
A month that does not end in a scramble
Working backwards from the remittance date, a month has four moments:
- Close the inputs. Attendance, overtime, new joiners, leavers and any once-off payments. After this point, changes are corrections — and corrections are what make month-end long.
- Run and check. Verify headcount against the payroll, check anyone near a wage floor, and look at the variance against last month. Most findings are visible here for free.
- Approve and pay. Payslips out, employees paid.
- Remit and file. Each deduction to its own authority, on its own return, by the 9th.
The payroll compliance checklist sets that out in full, including what to keep afterwards.
Not doing this by hand
PayrollMaster produces the monthly returns in the format each authority expects and keeps the rates current, so the deadline becomes a date rather than a project. See payroll software in Kenya or statutory compliance.
Rates on this page are rendered from our statutory dataset and were last reviewed against source on 2026-07-14. Statutory rates change with every finance act — check any figure against the relevant authority before you rely on it.
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Put this into practice
Questions
Payroll deadlines in Kenya: common questions
When is PAYE due in Kenya?
PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy are remitted by the 9th of the month following payroll, through KRA’s iTax P10 return.
Do PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy have different deadlines?
They ride the same monthly cycle — PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy are remitted by the 9th of the month following payroll, through KRA’s iTax P10 return. What differs is the body each one reaches: a Kenyan payslip's deductions are collected by 4 different authorities, so "filed" means several submissions, not one.
What happens if you miss a payroll deadline in Kenya?
Late remittance attracts penalties and interest set by the relevant statute, and they accrue from the due date rather than from when anyone notices. We do not publish penalty figures here because they change and are matter-specific — confirm the current position with the KRA or the relevant authority.
Does the deadline move if the 9th is a weekend or holiday?
Treat the published date as the date. Where a due date falls on a non-working day, practice can vary by authority and by year — the safe operating assumption is to remit before it, not to rely on a grace day that may not exist.
Stop tracking rates by hand
PayrollMaster maintains every rate on this page and applies the current version on every payroll run — then files the return. Start free and run one real month against your own numbers.