Professional Tax Registration & Return Filing (PTEC & PTRC) — All States

₹2,500 per person per year. Article 276(2) of the Constitution fixes this ceiling, and no state may exceed it. That is why the top monthly slab everywhere is ₹200–₹208, and why Karnataka and Maharashtra collect ₹300 in February — to reach exactly ₹2,500. Karnataka asked the Centre in December 2024 to raise the ceiling to ₹6,000, but no constitutional amendment has been passed as of September 2026.

PTEC (Enrolment Certificate) covers the entity's or professional's own annual liability — typically ₹2,500. PTRC (Registration Certificate) is the employer registration that authorises and obliges you to deduct professional tax from employees' salaries, deposit it and file returns. A company with employees in a PT state needs both.

No. Delhi (NCT), Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh and the remaining union territories do not levy professional tax. A company whose employees all work in these places has no PT registration to obtain — even if its registered office is elsewhere.

The state where the employee actually works. A Bengaluru-registered company with an employee working from home in Kolkata must register for PTRC in West Bengal and deduct at West Bengal slabs. PT follows the place of employment, not the registered office or the location of the payroll team.

Under the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (notified 28 February 2026), monthly PTRC returns and payments are due on the 15th of the following month (previously the last day), and the annual PTRC return is due by 15 March (previously 31 March). PTEC for the entity remains payable by 30 June each year.

A revised schedule takes effect on 1 October 2026: no PT on salary up to ₹20,000 a month (previously ₹10,000), then ₹100 (₹20,001–30,000), ₹140 (₹30,001–50,000), ₹170 (₹50,001–1,00,000) and ₹208 above ₹1,00,000. Revised annual slabs for professionals and traders apply from FY 2027-28. Employers must update payroll for the October 2026 salary.

Karnataka's schedule charges ₹200 a month for eleven months and ₹300 for February, so the year totals exactly ₹2,500 — the constitutional maximum. Maharashtra follows the same pattern. Payroll set to a flat ₹200 under-deducts by ₹100 per employee per year, and the shortfall is recoverable from the employer with interest.

Yes, under the old tax regime — as a deduction from salary under Section 16(iii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and from FY 2026-27 under Section 19 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. It is not available under the new (default) regime. The deduction is for the amount actually paid in the year, so at most ₹2,500.

In some states, yes — for the enrolment (own) liability. Maharashtra's One-Time Payment of Tax (OTPT) scheme lets an enrolled person discharge five years' PTEC by paying ₹10,000 (four years' tax) in advance. Employer deductions under PTRC cannot be prepaid; they follow the monthly or periodic cycle.

Exemptions are state-specific. Common ones: persons aged 60 or 65 and above (Karnataka exempts 60+), members of the armed forces, persons with permanent physical disability or blindness, parents of a child with disability, women in Maharashtra earning up to ₹25,000 a month, and everyone below the state's salary threshold. Textile, badli and certain agricultural workers are exempt in some states.

Usually yes. Directors of companies and partners of LLPs and firms are enrolled individually and pay the annual amount (₹2,500 in most states) under PTEC, unless they are already covered as salaried employees under a PTRC in the same state. The company itself also holds its own PTEC.

Typically 3 to 5 working days once the documents are complete, on states with online portals such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat. States with manual scrutiny, or applications where the officer raises a query on the salary register or address proof, can take longer.

The liability does not lapse. The state can recover the tax for every past year in which liability existed, with interest and penalty. The practical route is voluntary regularisation: we compute the exact back liability, use any one-time or amnesty scheme in force, file, and obtain the certificates — which is far cheaper than waiting for a notice.

Yes. Registration is the first step; most clients keep us on for the monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual deposit and return cycle, usually as part of payroll or the annual compliance subscription. Returns, challans and acknowledgements are stored in your myTAXAJ portal with due-date reminders.