Kenya Housing Levy Calculator

Background.

On a gross salary of KSh 160,000, the Affordable Housing Levy takes KSh 2,400 from your pay each month, and your employer adds a matching KSh 2,400 of its own. Together that is KSh 4,800 a month going to KRA, or KSh 57,600 over a year, and only half of it shows on your payslip as a deduction.

The levy is set by the Affordable Housing Act, 2024, which charges 1.5% of an employee's gross salary and requires the employer to pay an equal 1.5% on top. It is a separate statutory charge, not part of PAYE, NSSF or SHIF, even though all of them are worked out on the same payslip. People who are not employed pay 1.5% of their gross income instead, with no employer share.

Enter your gross monthly salary and the calculator returns both sides of the levy for one month, the combined amount the employer must remit, and the totals over however many months you choose: 12 for a year, fewer for someone who joined mid-year or a payroll check covering a quarter. The two rates are pre-filled at 1.5% but can be changed, so the same arithmetic still works if the law or KRA's guidance changes; check current rates on KRA's site or in the Act before relying on the defaults.

The late-payment part is for employers. KRA's 2024 public notice puts the levy under its collection and sets a penalty of 3% of the unpaid amount for every month it remains unpaid. Switch the penalty on, enter how many months a remittance is late, and you see the penalty and the new amount due for that month's remittance. The levy is due by the ninth working day after the end of the month in which the salary was paid, per the same notice.

This is arithmetic, not a filing service or legal advice. Remittances are made through KRA's own systems, and questions about what counts as gross salary for a particular allowance belong with your payroll provider, KRA or a tax adviser.

What is kenya housing levy calculator?

The Affordable Housing Levy is a compulsory payroll charge in Kenya that funds the government's affordable housing programme. Under the Affordable Housing Act, 2024, an employer deducts 1.5% of each employee's gross monthly salary, adds an equal 1.5% from its own funds, and pays both to the Kenya Revenue Authority, which collects the levy for the Affordable Housing Fund. Because it is calculated on gross pay, it applies from the first shilling with no threshold or cap, unlike PAYE's tax bands. The employee's half reduces take-home pay, and for a salaried worker the employer handles the whole remittance, so there is nothing to pay separately; the employer's half is an extra cost of employment that never appears as a deduction on the payslip. The levy began under the Finance Act, 2023 and, after court challenges, was re-enacted in its own statute in 2024.

How to use this calculator.

1. 01Enter the gross monthly salary in Kenya shillings: the pay before PAYE, NSSF, SHIF or any other deduction. If you are unsure whether an allowance counts toward gross salary for the levy, ask your payroll department, since the definition comes from the Act and KRA's guidance rather than from this calculator.
2. 02Leave both rates at 1.5% unless KRA has announced a change or you are modelling one. Each rate applies to the same gross salary, so changing one does not affect the other.
3. 03Set the number of months for the period totals. Use 12 for a full year, or the months actually worked for someone who started or left during the year; the same salary is assumed for every month.
4. 04If you are an employer checking a late remittance, choose Yes for the penalty, keep the rate at 3% per month as given in KRA's notice, and enter how many months that remittance is overdue. Choose No to leave the penalty out entirely.
5. 05Read the employee deduction as the figure that should appear on the payslip, and the total monthly remittance as what the employer pays KRA for that employee.
6. 06To check a payslip, compare its housing levy line with the employee deduction here. It should match to the shilling; if it does not, the payroll system is probably using a different gross figure from the one you entered, which is worth asking about.

The formula.

Every figure comes from one salary and a few multiplications. With S the gross monthly salary: the employee levy is E = S × 1.5 ÷ 100, the employer levy is R = S × 1.5 ÷ 100, and the monthly remittance is E + R. Each of the three period totals is the matching monthly figure multiplied by the number of months entered. Nothing is rounded along the way; amounts are shown to the cent.

The levy is flat. A KSh 15,000 salary carries KSh 225 a month on each side; KSh 500,000 carries KSh 7,500. Because there is no ceiling, the levy grows in step with pay, which is the main difference between it and contributions that stop at an upper earnings limit. It also means a pay rise of KSh 10,000 a month adds exactly KSh 150 to each side of the levy, whatever the starting salary.

The penalty, when switched on, is the monthly remittance × penalty rate ÷ 100 × months unpaid. It is simple, not compounding: each month adds the same 3% of the original remittance, so one month late adds 3% and three months late adds 9%. The amount due is that month's remittance plus its penalty.

That makes the penalty a calculation for a single month's remittance. If several consecutive months have gone unpaid, each month's remittance has its own age and its own penalty: run the calculator once for each, or add them up by hand. The calculation also does not deal with interest, waivers, objections or any assessment KRA may raise; those depend on KRA's procedures, not on arithmetic.

A worked example.

Frequently asked questions.

References& sources.

1. [1]Kenya Law (2024). Affordable Housing Act, No. 2 of 2024. National Council for Law Reporting.
2. [2]Kenya Revenue Authority (2024). Collection of the Affordable Housing Levy by Kenya Revenue Authority. KRA Public Notice.
3. [3]Kenya Revenue Authority. Housing Levy Calculator. eCitizen KRA Calculator.
4. [4]Kenya Revenue Authority (2023). Affordable Housing Levy (AHL). KRA Public Notice.
5. [5]Affordable Housing Board (2024). Affordable Housing Act. Government of Kenya PDF.
6. [6]Kenya Law (2024). Benjamin & 4 others v Cabinet Secretary Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development & 4 others. High Court Judgment.