KRA Penalties in 2026: Every Late Filing and Payment Fine in One Table

Kenyan tax penalties are automatic. There is no warning letter, no grace period and no discretion at the point they are applied — iTax computes them the moment a deadline passes. This is the full price list for 2026, in one place, so you know exactly what a missed deadline costs before it happens.

Late filing penalties

Note the PAYE figure: 25%, not 5%. A KES 200,000 payroll tax filed late starts at a KES 50,000 penalty. And nil returns count — a dormant VAT obligation that never files still collects KES 10,000 per missed month.

Late payment: the penalty that keeps growing

Filing on time but paying late has its own price: a late payment penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax, then interest at 1% per month for as long as the balance stands. Interest is where old debts balloon — a KES 100,000 liability ignored for two years grows by roughly a quarter through interest alone, before the original penalty.

The payroll levies

These compound monthly, which makes them among the most expensive debts a business can carry — an unremitted NSSF balance grows 5% every single month it stands.

The special cases that catch businesses

• Withholding tax: fail to deduct or remit and the penalty is 10% of the tax involved (capped at KES 1 million) — and as the payer, the liability is yours, not the supplier's.
• eTIMS and e-filing failures: since 1 July 2026, the higher of 5% of tax due or KES 100,000 for a company — the full story is in our e-invoicing penalty guide.
• Expenses without eTIMS invoices: not a penalty but often costlier — the expense is disallowed and taxed as profit.

The cheapest tax strategy in Kenya

Every figure in this article is avoidable with the same three habits: a compliance calendar on the wall — here is ours — returns filed a few days early rather than on deadline day, and payment made when the return is filed, not after. Compliance is boring. So is not paying 25%.