Payroll overview

Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. The figures on this page reflect the rules Bumara applies today and are given as a guide. The regulator’s current published position always governs. Bumara applies the rate in force when your filing is calculated — always check the figures shown on your actual filing rather than relying on this page, and take professional advice on how the rules apply to your business.

Payroll handles everything about paying employees: their records, what they earn, what is deducted, what they take home, and what you owe ZRA, NAPSA and NHIMA as a result. Getting payroll right in Bumara means three of your monthly compliance filings are largely done before you open them.

What is here

Employees

Personal details, employment terms, regulatory numbers and bank details.

Pay elements

Allowances and deductions — what is added to and taken from pay.

Monthly inputs

Absence, overtime, advances and ad-hoc deductions for the period.

Running payroll

Preview, process, approve, pay and reconcile.

Payslips

Generating and distributing payslips to your staff.

Loans

Staff loans with automatic repayment from pay.

Statutory returns

PAYE, NAPSA and NHIMA return files from your pay run.

The monthly cycle

Collect monthly inputs

Absence, overtime, advances, ad-hoc deductions — everything that varies month to month. Due by your cutoff day.

Preview

See the calculated payroll without saving anything. Check gross, deductions and net for every employee.

Process

Run it properly. Payslips are generated and the run enters Draft.

Approve

A second person authorises it for payment.

Pay

Transfer the net pay to employees.

Distribute payslips

Email individually or all at once.

File the statutory returns

PAYE by the 10th, NAPSA and NHIMA per their schedules.

Reconcile and lock

Match against your bank statement, then seal the period.

What gets calculated

For every employee, every month:

Step	What happens
Daily rate	Salary divided by your configured working days
Basic pay	Salary, adjusted for any absence
Allowances	Housing, transport, meal, leave pay, and anything custom
Overtime	Hours multiplied by rate multiplied by the applicable multiplier
Gross pay	Everything above, added together
NHIMA	1% of basic salary
NAPSA	5.5% of gross, capped at the statutory ceiling
PAYE	Progressive tax bands applied to chargeable emoluments
Employee deductions	Advances, loan instalments, and anything custom
Net pay	What the employee actually receives

Note the different bases: NHIMA on basic salary, NAPSA on gross. This is not an inconsistency in Bumara — it is how the two schemes are defined.

Pay run statuses

Status	Meaning	Who moves it on
Draft	Calculated, under review	Payroll officer
Approved	Authorised for payment	HR manager or finance
Processed	Payslips finalised	Automatic
Paid	Transfers made	Finance
Reconciled	Matched to the bank statement	Finance
Locked	Permanently sealed	Automatic

A processed pay run is difficult to reverse. Always preview first — previewing saves nothing and costs nothing, and it is the only cheap place to catch an error.

Who can see what

	HR / Payroll	Finance	Dept manager	Employee
Names and departments	Yes	Yes	Own dept	Own only
NRC, passport, TPIN	Yes	No	No	No
Bank details	Yes	Yes	No	No
Salaries and payslips	Yes	Yes	Own dept	Own only
Export data	Yes	Yes	No	No
Run payroll	Yes	No	No	No
File statutory returns	No	Yes	No	No

The split at the bottom is deliberate: the person who runs the pay run is not the person who files the returns. See Team and roles.

What feeds your compliance filings

Pay run produces	Which fills
Per-employee PAYE figures	Your PAYE return
NAPSA contributions	Your NAPSA return
NHIMA contributions	Your NHIMA return
Payroll summary document	The required upload on the PAYE filing

Key dates

Date	What
Cutoff day	Monthly inputs must be in. You configure this — the 20th is common
Payment day	When staff are paid. The 25th is common
10th of the following month	PAYE return due
Monthly, per their schedules	NAPSA and NHIMA returns due

New to payroll in Bumara? Start with Setting up payroll — five steps to complete before your first run.

​What is here

Employees

Pay elements

Monthly inputs

Running payroll

Payslips

Loans

Statutory returns

​The monthly cycle

​What gets calculated

​Pay run statuses

​Who can see what

​What feeds your compliance filings

​Key dates

What is here

The monthly cycle

What gets calculated

Pay run statuses

Who can see what

What feeds your compliance filings

Key dates