Getting training costs back from NITA
How a levy-compliant Kenyan employer can have staff training costs met or reimbursed by NITA, why approval comes first, and how to record the money.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
Most employers see the NITA training levy only as a line in the payroll costs. NITA describes it as something more: a fund that levy-compliant employers can draw on to train their people.
A business that sends its machine operators on a safety course, its accounts clerk on a payroll course or its supervisors on a management programme may be able to have part or all of that cost met. The catch is that the benefit has conditions, and the most important one has to be satisfied before the training starts, not after.
Levy compliance comes first
NITA says levy-compliant employers can have staff training costs met or reimbursed in part or in full by NITA, under the levy terms. NITA also says all employers operating in Kenya must register as training levy payers, and that levy compliance is a legal requirement.
"Levy-compliant" is the gate. In practical terms, that means the business is registered with NITA and has paid what it owes, with proof. NITA says employers should complete Form 2 with evidence of each payment and keep the official receipt. A business that cannot produce its receipts will struggle to show it is compliant, whatever its bank statements say.
Before planning any claim, check the levy position: registration confirmed, payments up to date, receipts filed. If there are gaps, close them first; registering for and paying the NITA training levy covers the steps.
NITA's approval before the training
NITA says employers must seek its approval before the training. That single condition decides most claims.
A course that has already happened without NITA's approval is not something to send NITA a bill for afterwards. The approval step belongs in the training plan, alongside choosing the course and booking the dates. Allow time for NITA to respond, and do not commit staff to a course you intend to claim for until the approval is in hand.
When you apply, be ready to explain what the training is, who will attend, who will deliver it, what it costs and how it relates to the employees' work. Ask NITA what form the application should take and what it will want to see when you claim, and keep a note of the answer.
Grants for industrial attachment places
NITA also says levy-compliant employers can receive grants for offering industrial attachment places.
Attachment places, where students or trainees gain workplace experience, are a cost to the employer in supervision time and sometimes in stipends. For a business already willing to take attachees, the grant makes that contribution easier to sustain. Treat attachment places like any training: agree them with the institution in writing, keep attendance and supervision records, and ask NITA in advance how the grant is claimed.
Records worth keeping
NITA's guidance summarised here does not set out a claim pack, so confirm its requirements directly. Whatever it asks for, these records are the natural starting point, and they are easy to keep if you start on the first day:
- The business's NITA registration and official levy receipts for the relevant period.
- NITA's written approval for the training, received before it began.
- The training provider's quotation, invoice and proof of payment.
- The course outline and the dates it ran.
- An attendance list signed by the trainees and the trainer.
- For attachment places, the agreement with the institution and the attendance record.
Keep each training event's papers together in one folder. In Achekam, Document Centre is a folder-based store where a business uploads files or whole folders, tags and searches them, and keeps earlier versions when a document is replaced. A folder per training event, tagged with the year and "NITA claim", means a claim can be assembled in minutes.
Training records also form part of the employee records an inspector may ask for; see preparing employee records for inspection.
Recording reimbursements in Achekam
The money flows in two directions and both should be visible in the books.
When the training provider bills you, record its invoice as a supplier bill, line by line, and pay it from the chosen bank account. The cost lands in a training expense account.
When NITA reimburses, the money arrives in the bank without an invoice of its own. Record it with a manual journal: debit the bank, and credit either the training expense account, so the net cost of training shows, or a separate income account for NITA reimbursements, so the gross cost and the recovery show side by side. Agree the treatment with your accountant once and use it consistently.
Achekam refuses an unbalanced journal or one dated in a closed month, and a posted journal is corrected only by a reversal, so a reimbursement recorded in error stays visible with its correction rather than disappearing.
Planning the training year
A simple annual cycle makes reimbursement routine rather than lucky:
- Start of the year: list the training each team needs and which courses you intend to claim for.
- Before each course: confirm the levy position, apply for NITA's approval and wait for it.
- During the course: collect the attendance list and keep the provider's documents.
- After the course: pay the provider, assemble the claim and submit it as NITA directs.
- When the money arrives: record the journal and file the proof of NITA's payment with the claim.
- Year end: review what was claimed, what was paid and what is outstanding.
NITA's levy inspectorate page explains the training reimbursements available to levy-compliant employers, alongside registering and paying the levy. Read it before you draw up next year's training plan.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
