Paying Kenyan tax with a PRN and recording it
How Kenyan tax is paid with a PRN from iTax, at a bank or by M-Pesa to the government paybill, and how the payment is recorded and confirmed in Achekam.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
Launching soon. Some of the screens this article describes for Nigerian and Kenyan businesses are not reachable in Achekam yet. They are coming soon.
Paying KRA is not like paying a supplier. You cannot just send money to an account and quote your company name. Every Kenyan tax payment hangs on one number, the Payment Registration Number, or PRN. Pay without it, or to the wrong place, and the money can sit unallocated while KRA's records say you have not paid.
This article explains how a PRN works, the two ways to pay with it, the old paybill to avoid, and how to record each payment in Achekam so that your books and KRA's agree.
The PRN from the iTax payment slip
KRA is Kenya's national tax authority, and returns are filed on iTax. When you are ready to pay a tax, you generate a payment slip on iTax for that tax and period. The slip carries the PRN.
Generate a payment slip for each tax and period you pay, and treat its PRN as belonging to that payment alone: generate it, pay it, record it. September's PAYE and September's VAT are two payments, each with its own slip.
PAYE, for example, is filed on the P10 return and paid by the 9th of the following month, so the September PAYE PRN is the one your payroll team needs in the first days of October.
Paying at a bank or by M-Pesa to the government paybill
At the time of writing, Kenyan tax is paid with the PRN in one of two ways:
- At a bank, quoting the PRN.
- By M-Pesa to government paybill 222222, with the PRN as the account number.
Mobile money is limited to KES 250,000 per PRN, a limit that has applied since November 2023. Check KRA's current guidance before relying on that figure for a large payment. Where a payment is above it, pay at the bank.
Keep the evidence of each payment: the bank's receipt, or the M-Pesa confirmation message showing the paybill, the PRN and the amount.
The discontinued paybill Achekam refuses
Paybill 572572 used to be a way to pay KRA. It is discontinued. Old payment instructions, saved contacts and the habits of long-serving staff still point people to it.
Achekam refuses a Kenyan tax payment recorded against paybill 572572. If someone tries to record one, stop and check what actually happened to the money before you go any further. A payment sent to a discontinued paybill is a problem to sort out with KRA and your bank, not something to record as tax paid.
Recording the payment with its reference
In Achekam, staff can keep a Kenyan tax profile for the business and start returns that move through prepare, review and approve by different people, in the Revenue Service Centre. Achekam does not file the returns and does not pay the tax. A person files on iTax, and payments are recorded in Achekam with KRA's own reference.
Achekam records a Kenyan tax payment with the authority's own reference and receipt: for Kenya, the PRN. It never generates a payment reference of its own. Every reference in your tax records came from iTax.
A worked example, in words, for September PAYE:
- Payroll files the September P10 on iTax and generates the payment slip.
- The finance officer pays by M-Pesa to paybill 222222, with the PRN as the account number.
- The M-Pesa confirmation arrives, showing the paybill, the PRN and the amount.
- The finance officer records the payment in Achekam with the PRN and attaches the confirmation as the receipt.
- A colleague checks the record against the payment slip and the confirmation, and confirms it.
A second person confirms
A recorded Kenyan tax payment needs a second person to confirm it. The same applies to payroll: Achekam does not file or pay Kenyan payroll returns, a person records the filing with the reference the portal gave, and a second person confirms each payment.
The confirmer's job is to compare three things: the PRN on the iTax payment slip, the PRN and amount on the bank receipt or M-Pesa message, and what was typed into Achekam. A single wrong digit in a PRN can leave a payment unmatched, and it is far easier to catch on the day than months later when KRA's records and yours disagree.
When a payment goes wrong
Mistakes happen: a PRN for the wrong period, an amount typed wrongly, a payment sent before the slip was generated. Do not record the payment in Achekam as if it settled the tax you intended. Keep the bank receipt or M-Pesa message, note what went wrong and when, and take it up with KRA through iTax or your tax office. Record the payment in Achekam only once you know which tax and period it has been credited to, with the reference that matches.
A short checklist
- Generate a fresh PRN on iTax for every tax and period.
- Pay at a bank, or by M-Pesa to paybill 222222 with the PRN as the account number.
- Never use paybill 572572.
- Check the mobile money limit before a large payment.
- Record the PRN and the receipt in Achekam the same day.
- Have a second person confirm each recorded payment.
M-Pesa is also how many of your customers pay you, and refunds on that side work through your org portal; see refunding an M-Pesa payment and taking M-Pesa live. For the payroll taxes that most often need a PRN each month, read Kenyan payroll deductions and who collects them.
Delete paybill 572572 from every phone and payment template in the business today. It is the cheapest mistake to prevent.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
