The P9 form is the employee's tax summary for the year, issued by the employer. It tells you what you earned, what was deducted and how much tax was paid on your behalf. It is also the main document you use to file your annual return. Many people receive it, file it and never read it. Reading it carefully takes ten minutes and can catch errors that cost you money. The exact layout can vary, so use this as a guide alongside your own form.

Why you receive it

At the end of the tax year, or when you leave, the employer prepares a P9 for each employee, covering January to December. If you had more than one employer in the year, you should get one from each. Keep every copy. Filing your employment return with a P9 explains how to use it for the return, and the P9 tax return calculator checks the figures.

Your details

At the top are your name, your PIN, the employer's name and PIN and the year. Check the PIN carefully. If it is wrong, the tax deducted may be credited to someone else, and your return will not match. Ask the employer to correct a mistake before you file.

Gross pay and benefits

The form lists, month by month, your basic salary, allowances, the value of benefits in kind and any bonuses or overtime, adding to the gross pay. Compare each month with your payslips. If a bonus is missing or a benefit is valued oddly, ask payroll. Taxable allowances and company benefits and company car and housing benefits explain how benefits are valued.

Deductions before tax

The next part shows the amounts deducted from gross pay before tax is calculated, such as pension contributions, NSSF and, in recent years, SHIF and the Housing Levy. These reduce taxable pay within the allowed rules. Housing Levy and SHIF now deductible before PAYE explains the change, and pension contributions and tax relief for employees covers pension limits. Check that the totals match your payslips.

Taxable pay

Taxable pay is gross pay less the allowed deductions. This is the figure on which PAYE is calculated. If it looks too high, check which deductions are included. Use the PAYE calculator with your monthly figures to see whether the tax is about right. How PAYE is calculated in Kenya explains the bands.

Tax charged and reliefs

The form shows the tax on taxable pay, then the reliefs subtracted, such as personal relief and insurance relief, leaving the PAYE actually deducted. Check that personal relief appears every month, once only if you had two employers. If you pay for a qualifying insurance policy and claimed relief through payroll, see that it is included; otherwise you can claim it on your return. Personal relief and tax reliefs for employees explained, how to claim insurance relief on PAYE and the tax reliefs calculator show what you may claim.

Total PAYE for the year

At the bottom is the total tax deducted and paid over for the year. This is the figure you will enter as tax already paid. It should match the total of your payslips. Check also that it appears in your iTax records; if the employer deducted but did not pay it, you may need to act; see when your employer does not remit your PAYE.

Common problems

  • Missing months, especially if you joined or left in the year.
  • A wrong PIN for you or the employer.
  • Benefits omitted or valued incorrectly.
  • Relief claimed twice, or not at all.
  • A total that does not match your payslips.

If you find any, ask the employer for a corrected P9 in writing, and keep both versions.

Use it to file and to claim a refund

Once the form is correct, enter its figures in your return. If total tax paid is more than your liability, you can claim a refund; how to claim a PAYE refund from KRA shows how. Keep the P9 with your records for at least five years, as described in keeping tax records for five years: digital vs paper. The annual PAYE and payroll summary shows what employers should compile for each person.

A five-step check

Before you file, check your P9 in five steps. Confirm your name and PIN. Add up the monthly gross pay and compare it with your payslips. Check the deductions listed against your NSSF, SHIF and Housing Levy records. Recalculate the tax on taxable pay with the PAYE calculator. Finally, check that the total PAYE equals the sum of the monthly figures. If all five agree, you can file with confidence, and if any does not, ask payroll to explain before you submit.