Professional tax in Maharashtra: slabs, rules and deadlines for 2026
Maharashtra runs the most involved professional tax regime in the country, and the part that catches employers out is that there are two separate registrations, not one. Businesses routinely obtain one and assume they are compliant.
| Monthly salary | Professional tax |
|---|---|
| Up to ₹7,500 / month | Nil |
| ₹7,501 – ₹10,000 / month | ₹175/month |
| Above ₹10,000 / month | ₹200/month |
Men earning above ₹10,000/month pay ₹200/month (₹300 in February, totalling ₹2,500/year). Women are exempt up to ₹25,000/month; above that, ₹200/month (₹300 in February).
The law that applies in Maharashtra
Professional tax in Maharashtra is levied under the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975, administered by the Maharashtra Department of Goods and Services Tax. Article 276 of the Constitution caps what any state may charge a person under this head at ₹2,500 a year, which is why no slab anywhere in India exceeds that figure.
Who must register in Maharashtra
Maharashtra distinguishes between the tax a business pays on its own account and the tax it deducts from staff:
- PTEC — Professional Tax Enrolment Certificate. The entity itself enrols and pays its own professional tax, currently ₹2,500 a year. A company, LLP, partner or sole proprietor needs this whether or not it employs anyone.
- PTRC — Professional Tax Registration Certificate. Required the moment you pay salary or wages to even one employee whose earnings cross the threshold. This is the certificate under which you deduct from staff and remit.
A company with employees generally needs both. Holding only a PTEC while deducting from salaries is a common and entirely avoidable default.
When it must be paid
PTRC return frequency depends on how much you remitted the previous year:
- ₹50,000 or more in the previous financial year — file and pay monthly, by the last day of the following month.
- Under ₹50,000 — file annually, by 31 March.
PTEC for the entity is paid annually, by 30 June for an existing enrolment.
The February anomaly
Maharashtra is the reason payroll software has a special case for February. The monthly deduction at the top slab is ₹200, but twelve months of that is ₹2,400 — short of the ₹2,500 annual figure. Maharashtra closes the gap by charging ₹300 in February instead of ₹200. A payroll run that deducts a flat ₹200 all year under-deducts by ₹100 per employee annually. Our calculator applies the February figure automatically.
Who is exempt in Maharashtra
- Women earning up to ₹25,000 a month are wholly exempt. This is unusually generous — most states offer no gender-based exemption at all — and it means a large part of a Maharashtra payroll may have no deduction.
- Senior citizens above 65.
- Persons with a permanent physical disability, including blindness, and parents or guardians of a child with a disability.
- Badli workers in the textile industry.
If you pay late
Late payment attracts interest, and the department may impose a penalty for failure to register or to file. Registering late generally means paying the tax for the whole period you should have been registered, not merely from the date you got around to it.
How it affects your income tax
Professional tax paid is fully deductible from salary income under Section 16(iii) of the Income-tax Act, in both the old and the new regime. Your employer normally accounts for it when computing TDS, so it reduces taxable salary rather than being claimed separately. If you are enrolled and pay directly, keep the challans — the deduction is still available to you.
On a payslip the line usually reads "PT", "Prof. Tax" or "Professional Tax", and sits with provident fund and income tax under deductions. Our free salary slip generator includes it automatically for Maharashtra.
Common questions about professional tax in Maharashtra
Do I need PTEC if my company has no employees?
Yes. PTEC is the entity's own liability and is not connected to whether you employ anyone. A company with no staff still enrols and pays its ₹2,500.
My salary is ₹9,000 a month — is anything deducted?
No. Maharashtra levies nothing up to ₹7,500, and the ₹175 slab begins above that. At ₹9,000 you fall in the ₹175 band; below ₹7,500 there is no deduction at all.
I am a woman earning ₹30,000 a month. Am I exempt?
No. The exemption for women applies up to ₹25,000 a month. Above that the normal slab applies, so ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February.
I work in Pune but my company is registered in Mumbai. Which rules apply?
Maharashtra's Act applies statewide, so the slabs are the same. Professional tax follows the state in which you work, not where the head office sits.
Professional tax in other states
Slabs, thresholds and filing cycles differ substantially between states. If you employ people in more than one, you will generally need a registration in each.
The maths behind this calculator is open source and tested — try it in the interactive reference, where the edge cases most calculators get wrong are worked through with real numbers, or read the source on GitHub.