Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is the mandatory tax levied on all employees’ income. In Kenya, the government manages the PAYE tax through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), which collects the statutory contributions from the employer, before salary and wages are paid to the employee. This income tax applies to all employees, permanent, temporary, full time, and part-time except for the employment that is not longer than 1 month. The income tax applies to wages, salaries, commissions, allowances, fees, bonuses, and any other income for which the employer is chargeable by the employee for services provided.
Casual employment may be referred to as that which is not longer than one month with any one employer and is not regular in nature.
It is the employer’s statutory duty to deduct income tax from the pay of his employees whether or not he has been specifically told to do so by the Department.
The normal PAYE year runs from 1st January to 31st December, it is filed and remitted monthly by the employer.