Career advice · Updated October 2026

P9 Form in Kenya: How to Get Yours, Check It and File Your KRA Return

Every year, from January to June, salaried Kenyans ask HR the same question: “Where is my P9?” The P9 form is the tax deduction card your employer prepares for each employee, summarising a full year of pay and the PAYE taken from it. You use it to file your annual income tax return on iTax. This guide explains what the form shows, when your employer must give it to you, how to check it before you file, and what to do if it is missing or wrong.

What a P9 form is

KRA describes the P9 as “a summary of the employment income received in the given year”, issued by the employer to the employee. The year is the calendar year, January to December. Your employer files PAYE returns every month; the P9 rolls those twelve months into one document for you.

KRA’s employer’s guide to PAYE describes three versions of the card: the standard P9A, the P9A (HOSP) for employees saving in a registered home ownership savings plan, and the P9B for cases where the employer pays the employee’s tax. Most people receive the standard P9A, but everyone calls it simply “the P9”.

When your employer must give you the P9

The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Rules, 2026, published as Legal Notice No. 185 of 2026 on 18 September 2026, replaced the old PAYE Rules. As summarised in EY’s alert on the new Rules, they require employers to:

• give each employee a tax deduction card, certificate or form for the year by the last day of the second month after the year ends, which means by the end of February;
• tell each employee in writing every month how much they were paid and how much tax was deducted (in practice, your payslip);
• file a monthly PAYE return by the 9th of the following month, even for employees from whom no PAYE was deducted.

So your P9 for 2026 should reach you by the end of February 2027.

What the P9 shows, line by line

The layout differs slightly between payroll systems, but each P9 has one row per month and these columns:

• Basic salary, benefits and value of quarters. Cash pay, non-cash benefits and any housing provided by the employer.
• Total gross pay. The sum of the above for each month.
• Allowable deductions. Pension and NSSF contributions, SHIF and the Affordable Housing Levy (both deductible since 27 December 2024), and, where applicable, post-retirement medical fund contributions and mortgage interest.
• Chargeable (taxable) pay. Gross pay minus the allowable deductions.
• Tax charged. Tax worked out on chargeable pay using the PAYE bands.
• Personal relief and insurance relief. Relief granted each month.
• PAYE. Tax charged minus reliefs, which is what was actually deducted and sent to KRA.

If any of these terms are unfamiliar, our guide to how PAYE works in Kenya walks through a full calculation, and the guide to reading your payslip explains each monthly line.

How to get your P9

1. Ask HR or payroll in writing. A short email is enough: your name, staff number, KRA PIN and the year you need.
2. Check any staff self-service portal. Many payroll systems let staff download payslips and tax cards themselves.
3. Use the pre-filled return if the P9 never arrives. KRA’s FAQ says that if your employer has not issued a P9, you can file using the “ITR for Employment Income Only”, which is pre-populated with your employment income if your employer filed its PAYE returns through iTax. From the 2025 returns onwards, KRA also pre-fills SHIF, pension, AHL, personal and insurance relief from employer PAYE returns.
4. Former employers still owe you one. Leaving a job does not cancel the duty. If you worked for two employers in the year, you need both P9s.

Check the P9 before you file

KRA’s own advice is simple: make sure the income matches your P9 and that the PAYE was deducted properly. Do this in ten minutes:

1. Add up the gross pay on your twelve payslips and compare it with the P9 total.
2. Compare the PAYE total on the P9 with the PAYE on your payslips.
3. Confirm your KRA PIN, name and employer PIN are correct.
4. Check that SHIF, Housing Levy and pension deductions appear, so they reduce your taxable pay.

Use the PAYE calculator to spot-check any month that looks wrong.

If the figures do not match

Raise it with payroll first. KRA’s FAQ explains that the fields on the pre-filled employment return cannot be edited, so if you see a discrepancy you should file using the Excel IT1 return instead. The Excel IT1 is also the route if your employer does not remit PAYE through iTax (KRA mentions some government ministries and agencies paying through IFMIS), or if you have other income.

The 2026 PAYE Rules also give employees a formal way to dispute the PAYE calculation. You ask the employer for a written explanation; if you still disagree, you refer the dispute to the Commissioner with your grounds and documents. The Commissioner must communicate a decision within 60 days of receiving the required information. Until then, the employer keeps applying its calculation.

How to file your return using the P9

KRA’s guide File Your Employment Income Only Return in 8 Easy Steps sets out the process:

1. Log in to iTax with your KRA PIN or national ID and your password.
2. Click “Returns” and select “ITR for Employment Income Only”.
3. Confirm the return period, which is filled in automatically, and click Next.
4. Go to Section F and confirm your employment income matches the P9.
5. Go to Section M and check the PAYE deducted.
6. Go to Section T and confirm pension, AHL, SHIF and personal relief.
7. Confirm all details and submit.
8. Download the acknowledgement receipt, which is also sent to your iTax email.

For screenshots of each screen, Business Radar has a walkthrough on filing KRA returns on iTax as an employee.

Nil return, employment return or full IT1?

This is where many workers go wrong. Pick the return that matches your year:

A nil return is only for a year with no income. If you worked for even a few months, KRA already has your employer’s PAYE data. In 2026, KRA suspended and then reinstated nil filing for 2025 returns after adding system validations, and it sent SMS messages to people whose records showed income despite earlier nil returns. If you filed nil by mistake, file an amended return through iTax (“File Amended Return”).

If you had two jobs, expect your return to show tax due. Personal relief can only be claimed through one employer, and neither payroll sees your combined income, so the total PAYE deducted can fall short of the tax due on both salaries together.

Deadlines and penalties

• Returns are due by 30 June of the following year. Returns for 2026 income are due by 30 June 2027.
• Late filing costs the higher of 5% of the tax due or KSh 2,000, even for a nil return.
• Late payment attracts a 5% penalty plus interest of 1% a month on the unpaid tax.

Missed past years? Use the amnesty before 31 December 2026

The Finance Act, 2026 brought back a tax amnesty. According to KRA’s 2026 Tax Amnesty Programme page, it waives 100% of penalties, interest and fines on tax debts for periods up to 31 December 2025, as long as any principal tax is paid by 31 December 2026. If you simply never filed and owe no tax, filing the missing returns during the amnesty window wipes the late filing penalties automatically. Business Radar’s KRA tax amnesty FAQ covers payment plans.

This matters for job hunting too: a clean filing record is what gets you a tax compliance certificate, one of the documents in our clearance certificates checklist.

Key takeaways

• The P9 summarises a year of pay, deductions, reliefs and PAYE from one employer.
• Under the 2026 PAYE Rules, employers must issue it by the end of February.
• Check it against your payslips before filing; if the pre-filled return is wrong, use the Excel IT1.
• File a nil return only if you had no income at all in the year.
• Unfiled returns up to 2025 can be filed before 31 December 2026 to clear late filing penalties under the amnesty.

To see what your next payslip should look like, try the net salary calculator.

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