The network covers Kenya within the East Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in KES, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Swahili and English.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Kenya, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Certified Public Accountant of Kenya — CPA(K), and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'Accountants Act n° 15 de 2008 réserve l'offre rémunérée de services comptables au public aux membres de l'ICPAK titulaires d'un practising certificate valide, exercant au sein d'un cabinet enregistré. La paie externalisée relève de ces services : n'accepter qu'un cabinet dont le practising certificate de l'année en cours est produit et vérifié auprès de l'ICPAK.
Kenya offers a foreign employer an English-speaking administration, largely digitised and built on common law foundations. Payroll is denominated in Kenyan shillings (KES) and contractual documents are drawn up in English, which appreciably reduces the translation burden compared with other countries in the region.
Salary tax passes through the withholding mechanism administered by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on its iTax platform. Alongside tax, several compulsory levies coexist and have changed quickly in recent years: pensions sit with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), health cover with the Social Health Authority (SHA), which succeeded the NHIF, and earmarked levies apply, notably for housing and vocational training.
Two professional points matter. Offering accounting services to the public for reward is reserved to members of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) holding a practising certificate, and registration with the data protection authority is here an obligation evidenced by a formal certificate.
The employer obtains a tax PIN from the KRA and registers to operate withholding on salaries. In parallel it must register as an employer with the NSSF and with the SHA, each of which runs its own channel.
The structure and its present reality are checked beforehand. The certificate of incorporation proves only that the company was born: it is the CR12, the official register search, that shows current directors and shareholders, and it must be recent.
Contracts must be in writing once the relationship exceeds a short duration, and it must carry the particulars set out in the employment legislation. For a foreign employee, a work permit of the appropriate class underpins the regularity of the whole arrangement and is handled before hiring.
Tax is withheld each month, the social and earmarked levies are computed and remitted to each institution, and a payslip is issued. An annual return summarises each employee's income and deductions. Payslips are compulsory and payroll records must be retained.
Because payroll rests on personal data, the company must consider its registration obligation with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
Termination, finally, requires a valid reason and a fair procedure, with form weighing as heavily as substance before the employment courts.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Kenya. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 9 documents, 9 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Kenya and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of IncorporationCertificate of incorporation Pièce sans péremption, délivrée une fois pour toutes lors de la constitution. Elle ne prouve pas que la société est toujours active : la compléter obligatoirement par un CR12 récent. | Registrar of Companies — Business Registration Service (BRS), via eCitizen | No expiry Required | Official website |
| CR12 — Certificate of Official SearchCR12 official search certificate of directors and shareholders Le CR12 est la pièce kényane de référence pour connaître les administrateurs et actionnaires à jour ; c'est l'équivalent fonctionnel du Kbis français. En exiger un de moins de trois mois. | Registrar of Companies — Business Registration Service (BRS), via eCitizen | 3 months Required | Official website |
| KRA PIN CertificateKRA personal identification number certificate Le PIN de la société commence par la lettre P. Demander aussi le certificat d'enregistrement à la TVA si le cabinet est assujetti, la TVA kényane s'appliquant aux services comptables. | Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) — plateforme iTax | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC)Tax compliance certificate Délivré via iTax et valable douze mois, il porte un numéro de série vérifiable auprès de la KRA. C'est la pièce standard exigée par tous les donneurs d'ordre kényans : un candidat qui ne peut pas la produire a un contentieux fiscal ouvert. | Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) — plateforme iTax | 12 months Required | Official website |
| NSSF compliance certificate ; SHA/SHIF employer compliance letterSocial security and health insurance compliance certificate Deux organismes distincts au Kenya : le NSSF pour la retraite et la SHA pour l'assurance santé, cette dernière ayant remplacé le NHIF lors de la réforme de la couverture santé. Réclamer une attestation pour chacun, les intitulés variant selon le guichet. | National Social Security Fund (NSSF) et Social Health Authority (SHA, qui a succédé au NHIF) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Professional Indemnity Insurance certificateProfessional indemnity insurance certificate L'ICPAK conditionne la délivrance et le renouvellement du certificat d'exercice des cabinets à une couverture d'assurance responsabilité professionnelle : un cabinet en règle dispose donc déjà de cette attestation. | Assureur agréé par l'Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) du Kenya | 12 months Required | Official website |
| ICPAK Practising Certificate ; Certificate of Registration of the firmICPAK practising certificate and firm registration certificate L'Accountants Act réserve la fourniture rémunérée de services comptables au public aux titulaires d'un practising certificate en cours de validité. Exiger le certificat de l'année et le numéro de membre ICPAK, vérifiable auprès de l'institut. | Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), au titre de l'Accountants Act n° 15 de 2008 | 12 months Required | Official website |
| National ID card ou passeport et KRA PIN des directorsDirectors' identity document and KRA PIN Le CR12 nomme les directors : recouper leurs identités avec les pièces fournies, car les prête-noms sont une pratique connue au Kenya. | Directorate of National Registration ; Kenya Revenue Authority | No expiry Required | No online service |
| Certificate of Registration as a Data Controller / Data ProcessorData controller / data processor registration certificate C'est la particularité kényane à ne pas manquer : l'enregistrement auprès de l'ODPC est obligatoire et se fait sur le portail dataportal.odpc.go.ke. Un prestataire de paie traite par nature des données de salariés et entre pleinement dans le champ ; la durée de validité usuelle de vingt-quatre mois est à confirmer sur le certificat lui-même. | Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), au titre du Data Protection Act 2019 | 24 months Required | Official website |
Recent instability in earmarked levies is the first thing to watch. The move from the NHIF to the SHA and the introduction of earmarked contributions have changed rates, names and payment channels within a few years. Kenyan payroll configuration is not something to freeze: it has to be revisited regularly.
Registration with the data protection authority produces, moreover, a certificate of its own. Kenya is one of the few countries on this list where a payroll processor must hold an official document on this point rather than a self-declaration of compliance.
The distinction between the certificate of incorporation and the CR12 is, finally, a genuine filter. The former says nothing about the current position, and nominee arrangements make it worth cross-checking the identities of the directors named on the latter.
Le Kenya est l'un des rares pays de la liste où la protection des données impose une pièce justificative formelle : le certificat d'enregistrement ODPC, incontournable pour un sous-traitant de paie. Ne confondez pas le Certificate of Incorporation, qui ne prouve que la naissance de la société, avec le CR12, seul document reflétant la situation actuelle. Attention enfin à la transition NHIF vers SHA, qui a modifié les intitulés des attestations santé : jugez le contenu plutôt que le titre.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Kenya, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Kenya has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
Kenyan law reserves the provision of accounting services to the public for reward, so we require the current year's ICPAK practising certificate, the membership number of the responsible professional and the firm's certificate of registration, which we confirm with the institute.
We also request a recent CR12, the KRA tax compliance certificate, the NSSF and SHA certificates, the professional indemnity insurance certificate and the certificate of registration with the data protection authority. A firm holding none of these is not eligible for the network.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Kenya yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in KenyaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Kenya.