Your exact take-home
2026 KRA rates, instant
PAYE is income tax withheld by your employer. It is only one deduction on a Kenyan payslip: pension contributions, health contributions and Housing Levy also affect the amount reaching your bank. Start by separating gross cash pay, taxable pay and take-home pay.
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1. Establish the pay that is taxable
Add salary and taxable cash allowances. Regular commuter and cash medical allowances are not automatically tax-free. Employer-provided medical cover and properly supported business reimbursements have different rules. Add the correctly valued taxable benefit where an employer provides a car or housing; there is no general rule that all benefits are valued at 30% of salary.
2. Deduct qualifying amounts before calculating tax
For a straightforward salary, subtract employee NSSF, SHIF and employee Housing Levy to obtain taxable pay. Other qualifying deductions can include registered pension contributions, owner-occupied mortgage interest and post-retirement medical fund contributions, subject to their limits. Do not subtract the employer’s NSSF or Housing Levy share from the employee’s salary.
3. Apply the progressive bands
| Monthly taxable pay slice | Rate |
|---|---|
| First 24,000 | 10% |
| Next 8,333 | 25% |
| Next 467,667 (up to 500,000) | 30% |
| Next 300,000 (up to 800,000) | 32.5% |
| Amount above 800,000 | 35% |
These are slices of taxable income. A salary entering the 30% band does not make the first two slices taxable at 30%. KRA lists these bands as effective from July 2023; calling them the rates used in 2026 does not mean new bands were introduced in 2026.
4. Apply relief after calculating tax
A qualifying resident employee receives KES 2,400 monthly personal relief. Subtract applicable insurance relief at this stage too. Relief reduces the calculated tax, whereas a deduction reduces taxable income. PAYE cannot become negative merely because relief exceeds the tax.
Worked example: KES 100,000 gross
Examples use a resident employee with one job, regular monthly cash pay, pensionable pay equal to gross pay, the February 2026 NSSF limits and standard personal relief. They exclude benefits in kind, voluntary pension contributions, mortgage interest, insurance relief, disability exemptions, HELB and other personal deductions. Figures are in KES; payroll rounding can produce small differences.
| Item | Monthly KES |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | 100,000.00 |
| Employee NSSF | 6,000.00 |
| SHIF | 2,750.00 |
| Employee Housing Levy | 1,500.00 |
| Taxable pay | 89,750.00 |
| PAYE after personal relief | 19,308.35 |
| Take-home pay | 70,441.65 |
Taxable pay is KES 89,750. Tax before relief is KES 2,400 + KES 2,083.25 + KES 17,225.10 = KES 21,708.35. Subtract KES 2,400 personal relief to obtain PAYE of KES 19,308.35. The resulting take-home pay is KES 70,441.65.
5. Reconcile the cash received
Take-home pay equals gross cash salary less employee NSSF, SHIF, Housing Levy, PAYE and any authorised personal deductions. A non-cash benefit can increase PAYE without adding cash to the bank payment. HELB or a salary advance reduces cash received but does not automatically reduce taxable income.
What changes for higher earners?
Only taxable pay above KES 500,000 enters the 32.5% slice; only the amount above KES 800,000 enters the 35% slice. Employee NSSF stops increasing at its earnings ceiling, but SHIF and Housing Levy do not share that ceiling. Compare incremental net pay when negotiating a raise, rather than multiplying the whole salary by the highest rate.
Use the PAYE calculator for your own inputs, and the net-to-gross guide when negotiating a take-home target.
Need help identifying the starting figures? Read taxable pay versus gross pay and how to read your payslip.
Sources and review date
Reviewed on 21 October 2026. Use the rules for the period being calculated; historical payslips may use different limits.