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Employer PAYE Filing Guide

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👥 Employer PAYE Obligations

As an employer in Kenya, you are required to deduct Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax from your employees' salaries and remit it to KRA. This is a monthly obligation that must be fulfilled regardless of the number of employees.

📅 Monthly Deadline: PAYE returns must be filed and tax paid by the 9th day of the following month. For example, January PAYE is due by 9th February.

📋 What Employers Must Remit Monthly

Deduction Rate Due Date Portal
PAYE Tax 10% - 35% 9th of following month iTax
Housing Levy 1.5% + 1.5% 9th of following month iTax (Sheet M)
NSSF 6% + 6% 15th of following month NSSF Portal
SHIF 2.75% 9th of following month SHA Portal

📋 Step-by-Step PAYE Filing Guide

1

Process Monthly Payroll

Calculate all employee deductions:

  • PAYE tax based on taxable income
  • NSSF contributions (Tier I & II)
  • SHIF at 2.75% of gross
  • Housing Levy at 1.5% of gross
💡 Use our Employer Filing Templates to generate ready-to-upload CSV files!
2

Prepare PAYE CSV File

Create a CSV file with employee details in the KRA-specified format:

  • Employee PIN
  • Employee Name
  • Gross Pay
  • Taxable Pay
  • PAYE Deducted
  • Housing Levy
3

Log in to iTax

Visit itax.kra.go.ke and log in with your employer KRA PIN.

4

Navigate to PAYE Returns

Click "Returns" → "File Returns" → Select "PAYE".

5

Select Return Period

Choose the month you're filing for (e.g., January 2025).

6

Upload Employee Data

You have two options:

  • CSV Upload: Upload your prepared CSV file (recommended for many employees)
  • Manual Entry: Enter each employee's details individually
7

Complete Housing Levy (Sheet M)

Fill in the Housing Levy section with:

  • Total employee contributions (1.5%)
  • Total employer contributions (1.5%)
8

Review and Submit

Verify all figures match your payroll records, then submit.

9

Generate Payment Slip & Pay

Generate the payment slip and pay via:

  • M-Pesa: Paybill 572572, Account = PRN number
  • Bank: KRA partner banks

📄 PAYE CSV Format

The KRA PAYE CSV template has 25 columns. Key columns include:

Column Description Example
PIN Employee's KRA PIN A001234567X
Name Employee's full name John Doe
Resident Resident status Resident
Type Employment type Primary Employee
Total Cash Total cash payments 50000
Total Gross Pay Gross salary 65000
Taxable Pay After deductions 58000
PAYE Tax deducted 8500
💡 Pro Tip: Use our Employer Filing Templates tool to automatically generate KRA-compliant CSV files from your payroll data!

📅 Annual Employer Obligations

In addition to monthly filing, employers must:

By End of February (Following Year)

  • Issue P9 forms to all employees
  • Submit annual PAYE reconciliation

P9 Form Contents

  • Employee's annual earnings breakdown
  • Total PAYE deducted
  • NSSF contributions
  • Pension contributions
  • Personal relief applied

⚠️ Penalties for Non-Compliance

Late Filing

Higher of 25% of tax due or KES 10,000

Late Payment

5% of tax due + 1% interest per month

Failure to Deduct PAYE

Employer becomes personally liable for the tax + penalties

Failure to Issue P9

Up to KES 100,000 fine or imprisonment

⚠️ Important: Even if you have no employees or no PAYE to declare, you must file a NIL return to avoid penalties!

🔗 Related Resources