Professional Tax by State in India 2026: Slabs and Who Pays

The gap between states is widest at the bottom of the pay scale. In Maharashtra a woman earning ₹25,000 a month pays nothing, while a man on the same salary in the same office pays the full ₹2,500 a year.

West Bengal grades the tax in several steps, rising from ₹110 to ₹200 a month. Note that this schedule dates from 2014 and is the latest official one found.

In Tamil Nadu the tax is collected every six months by the local body, so the slabs are set on half-yearly income. These are Greater Chennai Corporation rates; other towns set their own.

Jharkhand ignores lower earners entirely: nothing is due up to ₹3,00,000 a year. Above that the tax steps up with annual salary until it reaches the ₹2,500 cap.

Mizoram has the lowest nil limit shown here, at ₹5,000 a month, and the most slabs. Its top rate of ₹208 a month lands just under the yearly cap.

Maharashtra has not raised the nil limit for men since 2014, even as salaries rose. Women got a much bigger jump, to ₹25,000 a month from 1 April 2023.

Maharashtra professional tax on salaries from 1 April 2023

Source: Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Department (MAHAGST), Government of Maharashtra, Rate Schedules under the Profession Tax Act, 1975 (Schedule I). Download as image

States that set professional tax on annual salary

Source: Commercial Tax Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Non GST/PT Registration Checklist & Rates (Professional Tax: Schedule); Government of Bihar (Bihar Gazette Extraordinary), Schedule of rates under the Bihar Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2011 (S.O. 28); Department of Commercial Taxes, Government of Jharkhand, The Jharkhand Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2011 (Schedule). Download as image

Monthly slabs in Telangana, Gujarat and Assam

Source: Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Telangana, PT Schedule: First Schedule to the Telangana Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1987; Commercial Tax Department, Government of Gujarat, Rate of Profession Tax under the Gujarat State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976; Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Assam, Assam Professional Tax. Download as image

How the state sets professional tax on salaries by State

• 7Monthly salary slabs
• 3Annual salary slabs
• 1Half-yearly, set by local bodies
• 1Flat tax on income-tax payers
• 1Repealed

What is professional tax and who has to pay it?

Professional tax is a tax on earning a living. States levy it on salaried employees, and in many states also on people who run a business, practise a profession or work for themselves. The money goes to the state or, in some states, to the local body.

If you are on a payroll, your employer deducts it from your salary and pays it to the state. You do not file anything yourself. The employer has to register, deduct the right amount for your slab and deposit it on time, and the liability for getting that wrong sits with the employer.

If you are self-employed, the picture changes. In states that tax professions and trades, a freelancer or small business owner usually has to register and pay directly, often as a yearly amount. Check your own state's rules rather than assuming the salary slabs apply to you.

How much professional tax will I pay in my state?

For most salaried people in a state that levies it, the honest answer is about ₹2,500 a year, deducted in monthly pieces. That is the constitutional ceiling, and states like Maharashtra and Karnataka have built their top slab to land exactly on it: ₹200 a month, with ₹300 in February.

The variation shows up lower down. Gujarat charges a flat ₹200 a month once salary crosses ₹12,000. Telangana has a middle band of ₹150 a month between ₹15,001 and ₹20,000. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand look at annual salary instead, so a person earning ₹2,25,000 a year in Madhya Pradesh pays nothing.

Punjab works differently again. It calls the levy a development tax, charges ₹200 a month (₹2,400 a year) and does not apply it to people whose income is below the income-tax threshold.

A quick way to work out your own figure: find your state in the table above, check whether it uses monthly, annual or half-yearly income, and compare your gross salary for that period with the nil limit. If you are well above it, you are probably in the top slab. Someone earning above ₹25,000 a month in Telangana, Gujarat or Karnataka pays ₹200 in a normal month in all three, though Karnataka takes ₹300 in February.

People in Maharashtra and Karnataka often notice February's take-home pay dip slightly. It is not a mistake. A flat ₹200 every month would fall short of the ₹2,500 the schedule sets for the year, so February carries ₹300 instead.

Madhya Pradesh does the same thing in a different way, with a slightly higher deduction in the last month of the year. If your deductions look uneven, check the schedule before raising it with payroll. Uneven is normal. A deduction in a month when your salary was below the nil limit is not.

Which states have no professional tax?

Odisha is the clearest recent case. It repealed its professional tax law from 1 April 2026, so no new liability arises after that date, though tax owed for earlier periods can still be collected.

Several other states and union territories do not levy the tax at all, and a few, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Sikkim and Tripura, levy it, but we could not confirm their current slabs from an official source. If you work in one of those, your payslip and your employer's HR team are the fastest way to find out what applies.

Do not read a missing deduction on your payslip as proof that your state has no tax. It may mean your salary is under the nil limit, or that your employer has not registered. The second one is the employer's problem to fix, but it is worth asking about before a back-dated deduction lands in a single month.

Does professional tax change when I move states or switch jobs?

Yes. The tax follows where you are employed, not where you live or where your company is registered. Move from a Gujarat office to a Bengaluru one and the slab changes with you, including the nil limit.

Switching jobs mid-year in a state with a February top-up can cause small overlaps or gaps, because each employer deducts for the months it pays you. The total should still not cross ₹2,500 for the year. If your two employers together have taken more than that, ask the newer one to correct it and keep both payslips as proof.

What it means for employers and small businesses

If you run a business with staff, professional tax is a payroll job you cannot skip. You register with the state, deduct from each employee according to the slab that matches their pay, and deposit the amount by the state's due dates. Getting the slab wrong for one person is easy to fix. Not registering at all tends to cost more, because dues and penalties build up over months.

Two details catch out growing teams. First, a business with staff in several states needs to follow each state's slab for the people working there, not the head office's. Second, in Maharashtra the nil limit is different for men and women, so a payroll setup copied from another state will over-deduct from women earning up to ₹25,000 a month.

The business itself may also owe professional tax as an entity in some states, separate from what it deducts from staff. Your accountant should confirm both before your first payroll run.

What to check before you accept an offer

• Ask for a monthly salary breakup, not just a yearly CTC figure. Professional tax is one of several deductions between CTC and the amount that hits your bank account.
• Confirm which state the role is based in. For a remote job, ask which office you will be attached to on payroll, because that decides the slab.
• If you are a freelancer, check whether the client expects you to handle registration and payment in your own state, and price your rate with that in mind.
• Keep your payslips. They are the record that the tax was deducted and the simplest way to sort out a dispute with a former employer.

Sources and method

Every number on this page comes from the sources below, each opened and read on or before October 18, 2026. A second, independent review checked every figure against its source and corrected anything that did not match. 13 of 17 State entries were confirmed; any that could not be are marked "Not yet confirmed" and left out of every count and chart.

1. Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, The Constitution of India [As on May, 2022], Article 276(2) (May 2022 edition)
2. Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Department (MAHAGST), Government of Maharashtra, Rate Schedules under the Profession Tax Act, 1975 (Schedule I) (As on 31.03.2025)
3. Karnataka Legislative Assembly (copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research), The Karnataka Tax on Profession, Trades, Callings and Employments (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (LA Bill No. 08 of 2025) (10 March 2025)
4. Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Karnataka, Profession Tax notifications (Accessed 2026-10-18 (latest entry 02/05/2026))
5. Directorate of Commercial Taxes, Government of West Bengal, Schedule to the West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979 (effective from 1-4-2014) (Effective 1 April 2014, with 1 August 2016 change noted)
6. Greater Chennai Corporation, Revenue Department: Half-yearly Profession Tax (Rates w.e.f. II/2024-2025; accessed 2026-10-18)
7. Commercial Tax Department, Government of Gujarat, Rate of Profession Tax under the Gujarat State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976 (Salary entry effective 01/04/2022)
8. Amdavad Municipal Corporation, Professional Tax (Effective 01/04/2022; accessed 2026-10-18)
9. Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Telangana, PT Schedule: First Schedule to the Telangana Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1987 (As amended; accessed 2026-10-18)
10. Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, APPT Schedule: First Schedule to the AP Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1987 (Accessed 2026-10-18 (page content not retrievable))
11. Commercial Tax Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Non GST/PT Registration Checklist & Rates (Professional Tax: Schedule) (PDF dated 25 March 2025)
12. Law Department, Government of Odisha, The Odisha State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments (Repeal) Ordinance, 2026 (Odisha Ordinance 02 of 2026), Odisha Gazette Extraordinary No. 1496 (21 April 2026)
13. Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Assam, Assam Professional Tax (Rates from 15-10-2014; accessed 2026-10-18)
14. Government of Bihar (Bihar Gazette Extraordinary), Schedule of rates under the Bihar Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2011 (S.O. 28) (2 February 2016)
15. Department of Commercial Taxes, Government of Jharkhand, The Jharkhand Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2011 (Schedule) (Act of 2011 (document dated 31 December 2015))
16. Taxation Department, Government of Mizoram, Notification No. J.17011/1/2017-TAX: Schedule of profession tax (11 July 2024)
17. Department of Excise and Taxation, Government of Punjab, Frequently Asked Questions: The Punjab State Development Tax Act, 2018 (PDF dated 13 July 2021)
18. Commercial Taxes Division, Government of Sikkim, The Sikkim Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employment Act, 2006: Schedule (Undated copy; accessed 2026-10-18)
19. Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala, Profession Tax Online Payment System (Accessed 2026-10-18)
20. Taxes & Excise Department, Government of Tripura, Profession Tax notifications (Accessed 2026-10-18)