A Kenya payslip must show: employer name and address, employee name and designation, pay period, gross earnings broken down by component (basic + each allowance), each deduction itemised with its name, and net pay. Failure to issue payslips is an offence under the Employment Act. Digital payslips sent by email are legally valid — there is no requirement for a printed document.
The 2024 PAYE bands (monthly): KES 0–24,000 at 10%; KES 24,001–32,333 at 25%; KES 32,334–500,000 at 30%; KES 500,001–800,000 at 32.5%; above KES 800,000 at 35%. A personal relief of KES 2,400 per month is deducted from the gross tax. PAYE must be remitted to KRA via iTax by the 9th of the following month. Late remittance attracts a penalty of 5% of the unpaid amount plus 1% per month interest.
Three new deductions have been added since 2022: NSSF (new rates under the NSSF Act 2013, Tier I at 6% of first KES 7,000 = max KES 420; Tier II at 6% of the next KES 29,000 = max KES 1,740; total employee maximum KES 2,160); SHIF at 2.75% of gross salary with no cap, which replaced NHIF in October 2023; and the Affordable Housing Levy at 1.5% of gross from the employee, matched by 1.5% from the employer, introduced in February 2023. Small employers who were still using the old NHIF rates of KES 150–1,700 are now out of compliance.
The most common payroll mistakes in Kenyan SMEs: not deducting Housing Levy, using old NHIF rates instead of SHIF, not issuing payslips at all, and remitting statutory deductions late. These attract KRA penalties, NSSF penalties, and potential Employment Act liability. The Kenya Payslip Decoder shows an employee their net pay from a gross — useful for verifying that deductions on an existing payslip are correct.