Payroll

One payroll run, from salaries to statutory files

Review every entry, adjust where needed, approve the run, and generate payslips, P9A cards, remittance files, and a bank payment file from the same place. Locked against edits once approved.

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PAYE, SHIF, NSSF & AHL built in P9A & remittance ready Locked once approved
Payroll Runs

Draft, review, approve — then it locks

Each month is one run. You review every employee's entry, adjust where needed, approve, and move on. After approval, the run is locked.

One run per month
Payroll
Create a run for the month, review every employee's gross, statutory deductions, custom deductions, and net pay, then approve. Runs pass through Draft, Approved, and Disbursed — nothing skips a step.
Locked after approval
Security
Entries can only be edited while the run is in Draft. Once it's approved, overrides and deduction edits are refused — what was approved is what gets paid.
Every override logged
Security
Adjusting an employee's overtime or deductions inside a draft run writes a field-level audit entry: what changed, from what, to what, and who made the change.
Adjustments

Allowances, deductions, overtime — on each record

Monthly pay is set per employee, not per group. Allowances and deductions are configured on each person's record and applied automatically at run time.

Allowances
Payroll
House, transport, airtime, or any company-specific allowance — set per employee, with an optional start and end date. Allowances are employment income, so PawaHR applies PAYE and the other statutory deductions on top.
Custom deductions
Payroll
Union dues, SACCO contributions, staff loans, welfare — one line per deduction, applied on every run until its end date. Shown on the payslip alongside statutory items.
Overtime, pulled in
Payroll
Approved overtime from attendance lands in the run automatically, priced at 1.5× on normal days and 2× on rest days and public holidays, using each employee's own rest days.
See Overtime in Detail →
Statutory

Kenyan statutory deductions, on every run

PAYE, SHIF, NSSF, and the Affordable Housing Levy are calculated for every employee on every run. Current rates are applied, and they're reviewed whenever KRA, SHA, or NSSF publish changes.

PAYE, with relief
Compliance
Current PAYE bands, personal relief, and the taxable base that deducts NSSF, SHIF, and the Housing Levy before tax is applied — as the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2024 requires.
SHIF and NSSF
Compliance
SHIF at 2.75% of gross with the KES 300 monthly floor. NSSF on the current regime — Tier I on the first band, Tier II above it — with the employer match calculated alongside.
Affordable Housing Levy
Compliance
The 1.5% employee contribution and 1.5% employer match, calculated on every run. The Housing Levy is declared on the PAYE return under sheet M — PawaHR calculates it but doesn't produce a separate filing file.
Payslips & P9A

A payslip for every employee, every month

PDFs generated from the approved run — with the arithmetic that produced them, so the numbers reconcile.

PDF payslips
Payroll
Generated from the approved run, itemised: basic salary, allowances, overtime, NSSF, SHIF, PAYE, Housing Levy, custom deductions, and net pay. Employees see their own; HR sees everyone's.
P9A cards
Compliance
A KRA P9A tax deduction card for each employee, from the year's payroll entries — twelve months of basic pay, benefits, gross, statutory deductions, taxable pay, PAYE, and net pay, with a totals row. Downloadable by HR or by the employee.
Consistent figures
Payroll
Payslips, P9A cards, and remittance files are all drawn from the same run's entries — the taxable base, NSSF, SHIF, and Housing Levy on a payslip match the ones on the P9A that reports the same period.
Payment & Remittance

Payment file, remittance files, done

From an approved run, generate the files your bank and the statutory portals need. Every file comes from the same numbers shown to your approvers.

Bank payment file
Payroll
A payment file for your bank, generated from an approved run, with one line per employee and the net pay due, for you to pay through your bank or hand to whoever runs payroll.
M-Pesa payouts, coming soon
Payroll
Paying salaries to M-Pesa from inside PawaHR is coming soon. Today PawaHR prepares the bank file; you run the payment your way.
SHIF & NSSF remittance files
Compliance
From an approved run, generate the SHIF and NSSF remittance CSVs for the monthly returns, with the member numbers, contribution amounts, and gross figures the portals expect.
The Difference

What changes when payroll runs on PawaHR

Task Without With
Monthly run
Excel, with formulas that break silently.
One run per month, locked after approval.
Statutory deductions
PAYE, SHIF, NSSF, and AHL worked out by hand.
Applied on every run, from current rates.
Payslips
Built one at a time when someone asks.
PDFs from the approved run, for everyone.
P9A and remittance
Reconciled from the year's records, by hand.
Generated from the same approved run.
FAQ

Payroll questions, answered

What employers ask about running payroll in PawaHR.

Monthly. Weekly and daily pay aren't supported yet.

No. Once a run is approved, entries are locked against edits — what was approved is what gets paid. Adjustments after approval need a correction, not a silent edit.

Yes. PAYE, SHIF, NSSF, and the Affordable Housing Levy are calculated automatically for every staff member on every monthly payroll run, and P9A cards and SHIF and NSSF remittance files come from the same run. Statutory rates are reviewed whenever KRA, SHA, or NSSF publish changes.

Not yet. Today PawaHR prepares a payment file for your bank; M-Pesa payouts are coming soon.

No. PawaHR is built for business owners and team leads, not specialists. PAYE, SHIF, and NSSF calculations happen automatically on every payroll run — you review and approve, the system does the math. If you can use M-Pesa, you can use PawaHR.

See a payroll run in action

Book a walkthrough and we'll show you a full month, from draft to approved run.

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