Free tool
Kenya PAYE calculator
Enter a monthly gross salary to see what comes out of it — PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the Housing Levy — what lands in the employee's account, and what the whole thing actually costs you as the employer.
Assumes a resident employee on a full month, with no pension, HELB or insurance relief.
What comes out of a Kenyan payslip
Four statutory deductions, and they are not independent of each other — three of them reduce taxable income, so getting one wrong quietly changes the PAYE figure too. That interaction is the usual source of a payroll that almost balances.
PAYE
Charged on taxable income through progressive bands, then reduced by personal relief. Because it is charged on taxable income rather than gross, the deductions below change it.
NSSF
Split into Tier I and Tier II against the current earnings limits. Tax deductible, so it lowers the PAYE figure. The employer pays a matching contribution on top of gross.
SHIF
Calculated on gross pay rather than from a band table, and tax deductible. SHIF replaced NHIF, which used a fixed table of bands.
Housing Levy
Deducted from the employee and matched by the employer. The employee side is tax deductible; the employer's side is a cost on top of gross pay.
The rates, bands and tier ceilings behind these are not written on this page on purpose — they move with each Finance Act and the NSSF phase-in schedule. The calculator reads them from the same statutory configuration Mavuno HR runs payroll on, so it updates when that does. Going the other way — from a take-home figure to the gross it needs — is the net to gross calculator. More on how the deductions and returns fit together on the compliance page.
Common questions
- How is PAYE calculated in Kenya?
- PAYE is charged on taxable income using progressive bands: each slice of income is taxed at its own rate rather than the whole salary being taxed at the top rate. Personal relief is then subtracted from the result. Taxable income is your gross pay less the deductions that are allowed before tax, which is why NSSF and SHIF change the PAYE figure rather than just sitting alongside it.
- Is NSSF deducted before PAYE?
- Yes. NSSF is treated as tax deductible, so the employee contribution reduces taxable income before PAYE is worked out. NSSF itself is split into Tier I and Tier II against the current earnings limits, and the employer pays a matching contribution on top of gross pay.
- Does SHIF reduce my taxable pay?
- Under the rules this calculator applies, the SHIF deduction is tax deductible, so it lowers taxable income in the same way NSSF does. SHIF replaced NHIF, and it is calculated on gross pay rather than from a band table.
- What is the Affordable Housing Levy?
- The Affordable Housing Levy is deducted from the employee and matched by the employer. The employee side is tax deductible, so it also reduces taxable income. The employer's matching contribution is a cost on top of gross pay and is included in the employer total shown above.
- Does this include HELB, pension or insurance relief?
- No. The figures above assume a resident employee on a full month with no HELB repayment, no pension contribution and no insurance relief. Any of those would change the result, and Mavuno HR handles all of them on a real payroll run.
- Is this an official KRA calculator?
- No. It is an estimate produced by the same payroll engine Mavuno HR runs on, using the statutory rules currently on file. It is not tax advice, and the filing obligation stays with you as the employer.
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