Kenya PAYE & Net Pay Calculator 2026

Turning One Number Into a Full Payslip

If you know your gross monthly salary, this calculator reconstructs your Kenyan payslip for 2026 in one step. It applies the four statutory deductions a typical employee faces — SHIF, NSSF, the Affordable Housing Levy and PAYE — in the correct order, then shows your net take-home pay. Because the order of deductions affects how much tax you pay, doing this by hand is error-prone; the tool removes the guesswork.

The Four Deductions, In Order

SHIF (2.75%) is charged flat on gross pay with no ceiling. NSSF follows the Year 4 schedule effective February 2026: 6% on the first KES 9,000 (Tier I) plus 6% from KES 9,001 to the KES 72,000 upper limit (Tier II). The Affordable Housing Levy takes 1.5% of gross. Finally, PAYE is calculated on what remains after SHIF and NSSF are removed, because both are tax-deductible.

The 2026 Monthly PAYE Bands

PAYE is progressive, so only the slice of income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate: 10% up to KES 24,000, 25% from KES 24,001 to 32,333, 30% from KES 32,334 to 500,000, 32.5% from 500,001 to 800,000, and 35% above 800,000. After totalling the band tax, a personal relief of KES 2,400 per month is subtracted. These figures are an indicative estimate — verify with a tax professional or KRA before relying on them.

A Worked Example in KES

Take Amani, who earns a gross salary of KES 80,000 per month.

• SHIF: 2.75% × 80,000 = KES 2,200
• NSSF: Tier I (6% × 9,000 = 540) + Tier II (6% × 63,000 = 3,780) = KES 4,320
• AHL: 1.5% × 80,000 = KES 1,200
• Taxable income for PAYE: 80,000 − 2,200 − 4,320 = KES 73,480

Now the PAYE bands: 10% × 24,000 = 2,400; 25% × 8,333 = 2,083; 30% × (73,480 − 32,333 = 41,147) = 12,344. That totals KES 16,827 before relief. Subtract the KES 2,400 personal relief and PAYE is KES 14,427.

Adding it up: total deductions = 2,200 + 4,320 + 1,200 + 14,427 = KES 22,147, leaving Amani a net pay of about KES 57,853 — an effective deduction rate of roughly 27.7% of gross.

Why the Net Figure Surprises People

Many employees focus only on PAYE and forget that SHIF, NSSF and AHL together can take several thousand shillings before tax even enters the picture. On a KES 80,000 salary, those three non-PAYE items alone come to KES 7,720 a month — more than KES 92,000 a year — before a single shilling of income tax is counted. Seeing all four lines on one screen makes salary negotiations and budgeting far more realistic, and it helps you spot payroll errors quickly when a deduction looks too high or too low. If you also want to understand how marginal tax bands behave more generally, our tax bracket calculator shows how progressive rates stack, and the hourly to salary calculator helps you convert a wage offer into a comparable monthly gross before deductions are applied.

Read It As A Guide, Then Confirm

This tool is built for planning, not filing. It does not model employer pension top-ups, insurance relief, mortgage interest relief, or non-cash benefits, and administrative treatment of levies can shift between budget cycles. Use the net figure to budget, compare offers and sanity-check your payslip — then confirm the exact numbers with KRA or your employer's payroll team before you depend on them.