About Kenya Tax Estimator
A free, open-source tax calculator built specifically for Kenyan employees — no sign-up, no data stored, everything runs in your browser.
What This Application Does
Kenya Tax Estimator helps Kenyan employees understand their full payslip deduction picture. Enter your gross monthly or annual salary and the calculator instantly computes every statutory deduction — PAYE tax across all five KRA graduated brackets, SHIF contribution, NSSF Tier I and Tier II contributions, and the Affordable Housing Levy — then shows you your exact net take-home pay.
What makes this tool different from a simple salary calculator is the depth of the breakdown. You see exactly how much tax you owe at each PAYE bracket, which portions of your income are tax-deductible, and how your effective tax rate compares to your marginal rate. Visual charts make the proportions immediately obvious.
All tax rates and thresholds are editable through the Settings Override panel. When the Kenya Revenue Authority publishes amended rates after a Finance Act update, you can enter the new figures immediately without waiting for an app update.
Calculation Methodology
All calculations follow the official KRA order of operations. The steps below apply to monthly figures; when annual mode is selected, the monthly result is multiplied by twelve.
Compute statutory deductible items
SHIF is calculated at 2.75% of gross salary with a minimum of KES 300/month. NSSF is calculated at 6% of pensionable pay split across Tier I (first KES 9,000) and Tier II (KES 9,001 to KES 108,000), capping employee contribution at KES 6,480/month. The Affordable Housing Levy is 1.5% of gross salary. All three are fully tax-deductible.
Determine taxable income
Taxable Income = Gross Salary − SHIF − NSSF (employee) − Housing Levy. These three deductions reduce the income on which PAYE is computed.
Apply the five PAYE brackets
Kenya uses a graduated tax system. Each bracket applies only to the income within that band — not to the total salary. The first KES 24,000 is taxed at 10%, the next KES 8,333 at 25%, the next KES 467,667 at 30%, the next KES 300,000 at 32.5%, and anything above KES 800,000 at 35%.
Subtract personal relief
Every Kenyan employee is entitled to a personal relief of KES 2,400/month (KES 28,800/year). This is deducted directly from the gross PAYE computed in step 3. If the result is negative, PAYE payable is set to zero — low earners pay no income tax.
Calculate net take-home pay
Net Pay = Gross Salary − PAYE Payable − SHIF − NSSF (employee) − Housing Levy. This is the amount the employee actually receives.
PAYE Tax Brackets (Effective 1 July 2023)
| Monthly Taxable Income (KES) | Annual Taxable Income (KES) | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 24,000 | Up to 288,000 | 10% |
| 24,001 – 32,333 | 288,001 – 388,000 | 25% |
| 32,334 – 500,000 | 388,001 – 6,000,000 | 30% |
| 500,001 – 800,000 | 6,000,001 – 9,600,000 | 32.5% |
| Above 800,000 | Above 9,600,000 | 35% |
Source: Kenya Revenue Authority / Finance Act 2023
Data Sources and Legal References
Established the current five-tier PAYE bracket structure and rates effective 1 July 2023.
Confirmed SHIF and Housing Levy as fully tax-deductible items effective 27 December 2024.
Established SHIF at 2.75% of gross salary (minimum KES 300), replacing NHIF from 1 October 2024.
Mandates 6% of pensionable pay across Tier I (≤KES 9,000) and Tier II (≤KES 108,000).
Reintroduced the Housing Levy at 1.5% of gross salary from 19 March 2024.
Official rates, forms, and PAYE guidance available at kra.go.ke.
Technology Stack
This application is intentionally simple — no build pipeline, no JavaScript framework, no database. Laravel is used purely as a templating engine for clean Blade views and route-to-view mapping. All tax logic runs in vanilla JavaScript in the browser.
Source code: github.com/Martin888Maina/Tax-Estimator-Application
Important: This tool is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional tax advice. Tax laws change — always verify your figures with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) or a licensed tax professional. The developer is not liable for any decisions made based on this tool's output.