Late SHIF, Housing Levy and payroll remittances in Kenya
What a Kenyan employer pays when SHIF or the Housing Levy is remitted late, the dates for PAYE, NSSF and NITA, and a routine to keep every payment on time.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
When cash is tight, payroll remittances are tempting to push back a week or two. The staff have been paid, the money deducted from their pay is sitting in the business account, and the authorities seem a long way off. It is an expensive habit. The money was never the business's to use: it was deducted from employees' pay for the Social Health Authority, KRA and the NSSF, and two of those remittances carry a charge for every month they are late.
This article sets out, at the time of writing, what lateness costs on SHIF and the Housing Levy, the dates for the other payroll remittances, and a routine that keeps all of them on time.
SHIF: a charge for each month it is late
SHIF contributions are 2.75% of an employee's gross pay, at least KES 300 a month and with no upper limit. The employer deducts them and remits them to the Social Health Authority by the 9th of the following month.
Late payment costs 2% a month. The charge repeats: a remittance two months late costs more than one a single month late, and a remittance forgotten for a year costs a great deal more than the original amount suggested. Check the Social Health Authority's current terms for how the charge is worked out before you settle any arrears.
The Housing Levy: nine working days, then a monthly charge
The Affordable Housing Levy is 1.5% of gross monthly pay from the employee plus 1.5% from the employer. KRA collects it, within 9 working days after the end of the month.
Late payment costs 3% a month, the highest of the monthly charges in this article. Notice also that the deadline is counted in working days, not calendar days, so it moves from month to month with weekends and public holidays. Work it out each month rather than assuming a fixed date.
PAYE and NSSF by the 9th, NITA on its own terms
The other remittances each have their own rule:
- PAYE is filed on the P10 return on iTax and paid by the 9th of the following month. KRA's page on offences and penalties sets out the penalties and interest it charges for late filing and late payment of PAYE and other taxes; read it there rather than relying on a figure someone remembers.
- NSSF contributions, from February 2026, are 6% from the employee and 6% from the employer on pensionable pay up to KES 108,000, so at most KES 6,480 each a month. They are remitted to the NSSF by the 9th. The research behind this article does not state the NSSF's charge for late payment; ask the Fund.
- The NITA levy is KES 50 per employee per month, paid by the employer and not deducted from pay. NITA's own levy guidance sets out how and when it is paid. You may see "by the 9th" quoted for it, but that is not what NITA states, so follow NITA's guidance.
Remember who collects what. KRA takes PAYE and the Housing Levy. It does not take SHIF, NSSF contributions or the NITA levy. A payment to the right amount but the wrong body is still a payment not made to the body that was owed. The full split is in Kenyan payroll deductions and who collects them.
Public holidays and working days
For the Housing Levy, the working-day count is where mistakes creep in. Achekam's business calendar includes Kenya's fixed-date national public holidays and, for 2026, the movable holidays officially declared or confirmed for that year. It applies Kenya's rule that a holiday falling on a Sunday is observed on the Monday. Movable holidays for later years are added once they are confirmed.
That makes the calendar a useful aid for counting nine working days, but treat a newly announced holiday with care: if the government declares one at short notice, check that it appears before you rely on the count. The way holidays move deadlines is covered in public holidays and tax deadlines.
Recording each payment with a second person
Achekam prepares the Kenyan payroll schedules from approved runs, but it does not file or pay them. A person files on the authority's own portal and records the filing with the reference the portal gave. A second person confirms each payment.
That second look is the best defence against the quiet failures that lead to monthly charges: a payment that bounced, a PRN typed with one wrong digit, a SHIF remittance made for the wrong month. The confirmer compares the reference and amount on the receipt with what was recorded, and with the schedule the payment was meant to settle.
A payroll remittance checklist
| Remittance | Paid to | Due | Cost of lateness in the research |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE (P10) | KRA | By the 9th | See KRA's penalties page |
| Affordable Housing Levy | KRA | Within 9 working days after month end | 3% a month |
| SHIF | Social Health Authority | By the 9th | 2% a month |
| NSSF Tier I and II | NSSF | By the 9th | Not stated; ask the NSSF |
| NITA levy | NITA | As NITA's guidance states | Not stated; ask NITA |
Each month, after the pay run is approved:
- Download each schedule and check its totals against the run.
- Work out the Housing Levy's ninth working day for this month.
- Pay every remittance a few days before its date, not on it.
- Record each payment with the reference the authority gave, the same day.
- Have a second person confirm each one.
- At month end, check that every payroll liability account has been cleared.
If a remittance is already late, pay it as soon as you can and keep the evidence of the date. Charges that run by the month stop growing only when the money arrives. The monthly PAYE side of the routine is laid out in preparing the monthly P10 return.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
