M-PESA for Business charges 2026: Buy Goods, Paybill, B2C, withdrawal

For Kenyan businesses, M-PESA fees are a real line item, not a rounding error. A coffee shop running KES 15 million through a Buy Goods till in a year pays roughly KES 75,000 in merchant fees. A school running KES 500 million through a paybill pays nothing on the receive side but cares deeply about the withdraw-to-bank tariff. This guide breaks down every merchant-side M-PESA fee in 2026 with worked examples by amount.

Buy Goods Till, merchant pays

When a customer pays your till, Safaricom deducts a merchant fee from the credit landing in your till. The customer sees the price they paid; you receive the price minus the merchant fee. The 2026 Buy Goods merchant tariff is 0.5% of the transaction amount, capped at KES 200 per transaction, with a free band on amounts under KES 200.

Customer pays (KES)	Merchant fee (KES)	Effective rate
100	Free	0%
500	2.50	0.5%
2,000	10	0.5%
10,000	50	0.5%
40,000	200	0.5%
100,000	200 (cap)	0.2%
250,000	200 (cap)	0.08%

Most retail businesses pay an effective 0.4-0.5% on Buy Goods volume, since most transactions sit below the KES 40,000 cap-trigger.

Paybill, customer pays

Paybill is the inverse: the customer pays the M-PESA tariff out of their wallet, and your paybill receives the gross amount the customer entered. From a merchant's point of view, paybill receive is fee-free at the receive step.

The customer-side paybill tariff in 2026 ranges from KES 0 (amounts under KES 100, free) to KES 105 (amounts KES 50,001 to KES 250,000). See the full schedule in our M-PESA charges 2026 guide.

Some paybills are zero-rated for the customer, KRA, NHIF/SHA, certain Government of Kenya services, meaning the customer sees no fee at all. Safaricom waives the tariff under public-service agreements. If your business serves a regulated function (utility, government, education in some cases), apply for zero-rating during paybill registration.

Withdraw to bank, merchant pays

Money sitting in a Buy Goods till or paybill must eventually move to your business bank account. Safaricom calls this "Settle to Bank" or "Withdraw to Bank." It costs a tiered fee per withdrawal:

Amount withdrawn (KES)	Fee (KES)
1 - 1,000	10
1,001 - 50,000	30
50,001 - 250,000	80
250,001 - 1,000,000	150
1,000,001 - 5,000,000	250

Daily withdraw-to-bank limits are higher than personal-account limits, typically up to KES 5,000,000 per day per till for fully verified business accounts. Larger sweeps require Safaricom Business approval.

How often to sweep

Most merchants sweep daily or every other day. Sweeping less frequently saves a few hundred shillings per month in withdrawal fees but increases the operational risk of having operating cash sitting in M-PESA. Most accountants prefer daily sweeps for clean bank reconciliation.

B2C disbursement, merchant pays

When you pay out to a customer's M-PESA (refund, salary, supplier payment, prize payout), the merchant pays the B2C tariff. The 2026 schedule:

Amount paid out (KES)	B2C fee (KES)
1 - 1,000	10
1,001 - 5,000	20
5,001 - 20,000	40
20,001 - 70,000	60
70,001 - 250,000	110

Recipients receive the gross amount; the fee is taken from your float. For high-volume payout businesses (gig platforms, lottery operators, refund-heavy retailers), B2C fees compound fast. A platform paying 1,000 freelancers KES 5,000 each per week pays KES 20,000 weekly in B2C fees alone.

B2B, merchant pays

B2B transactions move funds from one paybill or till to another. Used by aggregators and large enterprise customers, and increasingly by SACCOs settling member dues. Tariff sits at roughly KES 50-110 per transaction, structured similarly to B2C.

Cross-network receive (Airtel Money paying your paybill)

When an Airtel Money customer pays your M-PESA paybill via interoperability, Safaricom and Airtel Africa apply a small inter-network fee, usually invisible to the receiving merchant. The customer sees a slightly higher tariff than a same-network payment. From the merchant's view, the deposit lands the same way.

Other fees worth knowing

Reversal fee: KES 200 per Safaricom-initiated reversal. Customer-initiated reversals (sent-to-wrong-number) under the standard reversal flow are free for amounts below KES 100,000.
Statement download: free up to 6 months historical via the Daraja API or Safaricom Business portal. Older statements may attract an admin fee.
Bulk SMS to customers: integrated into M-PESA Business but priced separately by Safaricom Promo SMS, typically KES 0.50-1.00 per SMS.
SIM swap or paybill ownership change: KES 1,500-5,000 administrative fee, depending on the level of change.

Paybill vs Till, which costs less?

Depends on transaction size and who absorbs the fee.

Below KES 1,000 transactions, customer-pays-fee paybill usually wins because the customer pays a small fixed paybill fee but the merchant pays nothing. Buy Goods Till would cost the merchant 0.5%.
Mid-range KES 5,000-50,000 transactions, Buy Goods Till often wins from the customer's perspective (free for the customer) but at 0.5% to the merchant. Most retail uses Till for the customer experience.
Large bills KES 50,000+, paybill typically wins because the customer fee caps at KES 105 versus the merchant's capped KES 200 on Till.

See our paybill vs till comparison for the full decision matrix.

Are M-PESA fees tax-deductible?

Yes. Merchant fees, B2C disbursement fees, and withdraw-to-bank fees are all KRA-deductible business expenses. Keep monthly statements as evidence. Your accountant should record these as bank charges or transaction costs in your management accounts.

Safaricom files annual fee summaries with KRA for VAT-registered merchants. The standard 16% VAT applies on the fees themselves; you can claim input VAT if you're VAT-registered.

When and how to negotiate a custom rate

Volume above KES 5 million / month on a single till makes you a worthwhile negotiation target for Safaricom Business. Approach via your assigned account manager (every business merchant has one once monthly volume crosses KES 1 million). Ask for:

Reduced Buy Goods rate (0.3-0.4% from default 0.5%)
Reduced or waived withdraw-to-bank fees
Free first 100 B2C transactions per month if you do payouts
Free transaction statements via API

Safaricom Business approves these on a 12-month review cycle. Provide projected volume figures and a note on which competitors (Airtel, banks) you're considering as alternatives.