Professional tax slab on salary, state-wise: Gujarat first, then Maharashtra, Karnataka and more

Gujarat: professional tax slab on salary

The law is the Gujarat Panchayats, Municipalities, Municipal Corporations and State Tax on Professions, Traders, Callings and Employments Act, 1976 (the "Gujarat Professions Tax Act"). Schedule I, entry 1 covers salary and wage earners. Under section 3(2), the State Government fixes their rates by notification, and the tax on any one person "shall not exceed two thousand and five hundred rupees in any year". In a municipal corporation area, the corporation collects the tax as the designated authority. We could not open the state notification itself, so the rates below are the ones the Amdavad Municipal Corporation publishes for salaried employees, effective from 1 April 2022:

Source: Amdavad Municipal Corporation, Professional Tax: rate for salaried/wages employees, effective 01/04/2022

Source: Gujarat Commercial Tax Department: the Gujarat Professions Tax Act, 1976 (sections 2(g), 3(2) and 4; Schedule I, entry 1)

• What counts as salary: section 2(g) includes pay or wages, dearness allowance, other regular remuneration in cash or kind, and perquisites, but not any form of bonus or gratuity.
• Paid for a period other than a month: your monthly salary is worked out from what is actually paid or payable for a month (Schedule I, entry 1, Explanation I).
• Leaving partway through a month: that month's tax is reduced proportionately (Explanation II).
• Who pays: your employer deducts the tax from your salary and pays it (section 4). If you work for more than one employer at the same time, section 4 lets you enrol and pay the tax yourself; you then give your employers a declaration in the prescribed form, and they stop deducting it.

Example: an Ahmedabad employee with a monthly salary of ₹11,500 pays no professional tax. If a raise takes it to ₹12,000, ₹200 starts coming out every month. On ₹50,000 or ₹1 lakh a month the deduction is still ₹200, because the slab has only one paying band.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra's slab is in Schedule I of the Profession Tax Act, 1975, as published by the state GST department. From 1 April 2023 it has separate thresholds for men and women:

Source: Maharashtra GST Department: Rate Schedules under the Profession Tax Act, 1975, Schedule I, entry 1 (1/4/2023 onwards)

Karnataka

Karnataka charges professional tax only on salary or wages of ₹25,000 a month and above. Karnataka Act 14 of 2023 set that threshold, with ₹200 a month, from 1 April 2023. Karnataka Act 33 of 2025, in force from 1 April 2025, kept ₹200 a month and added ₹300 for February. The year now comes to 11 × ₹200 + ₹300 = ₹2,500. Below ₹25,000 a month, nothing is deducted.

Source: Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department: KTPTC&E (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 33 of 2025, from 1 April 2025) and (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 14 of 2023, Schedule, Sl. No. 1)

Telangana

Entry 1 of the First Schedule to the Telangana Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1987, as amended up to date on the state's Commercial Taxes portal:

Source: Telangana Commercial Taxes Department: First Schedule (as amended up to date), entry 1

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh works on annual salary, not monthly. The Madhya Pradesh Vritti Kar (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 2018 (Act 20 of 2018), deemed in force from 1 April 2018, put this slab into the Schedule of the 1995 Act:

Source: MP Commercial Tax Department: Madhya Pradesh Vritti Kar (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 2018 (MP Gazette Extraordinary, 18 July 2018, scanned Hindi text), Schedule entry 1

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

In Chennai, professional tax is a local-body tax under the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998, charged on half-yearly income. Greater Chennai Corporation's press release of 4 August 2026 gives the rates in force from the second half of 2024-25. Under Rule 277(2) of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023, employers deduct it from the August and January salaries. The table covers Chennai Corporation limits only.

Source: Greater Chennai Corporation, Revenue Department: press release R.D. PT C.No/3555/2026, 4 August 2026 (half-yearly slab; Rules 277(2) and (3))

States we left out, and why

• West Bengal: the West Bengal Finance Act, 2026 lets the state set a new professional tax schedule by notification. A draft schedule (No. 1407-F.T., 18 August 2026) was published for objections and proposes new salary slabs from 1 October 2026. We could not open a final notification on an official site, so no West Bengal slab is given here.
• Andhra Pradesh: the professional tax schedule link on the Commercial Taxes portal did not open for us, so no slab is given.
• Kerala: we found no official source for the current rates, so no slab is given.

Source: Kolkata Gazette, 7 August 2026: West Bengal Finance Act, 2026 (Act XIII of 2026), amending section 3 of the 1979 Act

Source: Kolkata Gazette, 18 August 2026: draft notification No. 1407-F.T. (proposed new schedule, for objections)

States with no professional tax

We could not find an official list of the states that charge no professional tax on salaries. Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are commonly named as having none, but we have not confirmed this from an official source, so treat it as unconfirmed.

What decides the state is where you are employed, at least in the laws we read. West Bengal's 2026 amendment covers a person employed anywhere in the state "whether the headquarters of the employer or the place from where the salary is drawn or disbursed is within the State or not". The Gujarat Act covers persons engaged in employment in Gujarat.

The yearly ceiling: ₹2,500

Professional tax is levied under Article 276 of the Constitution. Andhra Pradesh's Commercial Taxes Department notes that the Constitution allows it up to a maximum of ₹2,500 a year, and state Acts carry the same ceiling: Gujarat's section 3(2) says the tax on any one person "shall not exceed two thousand and five hundred rupees in any year".

The February ₹300 works out exactly to that ceiling. Twelve months at ₹200 is ₹2,400, ₹100 short of ₹2,500; Maharashtra and Karnataka charge ₹300 in February, so the year comes to 11 × ₹200 + ₹300 = ₹2,500. Madhya Pradesh's top slab reaches ₹2,500 with ₹212 in the 12th month. Gujarat and Telangana stay at ₹2,400.

Source: AP Commercial Taxes Department, APPT Act, 1987 page: "The Constitution empowers the levy of Profession Tax subject to a maximum of Rs.2500/- p.a."

Income tax: can you deduct professional tax?

Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, section 19(1), Table Sl. No. 1 lets you deduct from salary income the entire amount you paid as tax on employment under Article 276(2). In the Income-tax Act, 1961 the same deduction was section 16(iii).

In the new regime, you lose it. Section 202(2)(a)(iv) of the 2025 Act says total income under the new regime is computed without the deduction in "section 19(1) (Table: Sl. No. 1)". Under the 1961 Act, section 115BAC(2)(i) did the same by shutting out deductions under section 16 in the new regime. The ₹75,000 standard deduction (section 19(1), Sl. No. 2) stays in the new regime, but professional tax does not come off your taxable salary. It reduces taxable salary only if you opt for the old regime.

An illustrative estimate of what it saves in the old regime, assuming a 30% marginal rate plus 4% cess and no surcharge: ₹2,400 of Gujarat professional tax saves 2,400 × 30% × 1.04 = ₹749. On the same assumptions, a 20% marginal rate gives ₹499 and a 5% rate ₹125. On ₹2,500 (Maharashtra or Karnataka), the three figures are ₹780, ₹520 and ₹130. Your actual saving depends on your own slab and rebate.

If your employer pays your professional tax from its own pocket instead of deducting it from your salary, the Income Tax Department's guidance (written for section 16 of the 1961 Act) treats that payment as a perquisite in your salary first, and then allows the deduction.

Source: Income-tax Act, 2025, section 19(1), Table, Sl. No. 1 ("tax on employment as per article 276(2)"; earlier section 16(iii) of the 1961 Act) and Sl. No. 2 (standard deduction)

Source: Income-tax Act, 1961, section 16(iii): deduction of tax on employment under article 276(2)

Source: Income-tax Act, 2025, section 202(2)(a)(iv): new regime computed without section 19(1), Table Sl. No. 1 (earlier section 115BAC of the 1961 Act)

Source: Income-tax Act, 1961, section 115BAC(2)(i): new-regime income computed without deductions under section 16

Source: Income Tax Department: Deductions/allowances allowed to a salaried employee (professional tax under section 16; employer-paid tax as a perquisite)

How it shows on your payslip

• It is listed among the deductions, usually as "Professional Tax", "PT" or "P. Tax".
• It is a fixed rupee amount for each slab, so it changes only when your salary moves into a different slab.
• In Maharashtra and Karnataka, the February payslip shows ₹300 instead of ₹200. In Madhya Pradesh, the 12th month shows ₹174 or ₹212 in the upper two slabs.
• In Chennai it is deducted twice a year, from the August and January salaries, as a half-yearly amount.

For an in-hand estimate, the PaisaTools In-Hand Salary Calculator takes professional tax as ₹200 a month (₹2,400 a year). Against the slabs above, that matches Gujarat at ₹12,000 a month or more and Telangana above ₹20,000; Maharashtra and Karnataka at the top slab come to ₹100 more a year, at ₹2,500.