Professional Tax in Maharashtra (2026): Slabs, PTRC vs PTEC, Due Dates and How to Pay Online

If you pay salaries in Maharashtra, run a company or LLP there, or practise as a professional, you owe the state's professional tax (PT) — and since March 2026 you owe it earlier in the month than before. This guide is for employers, payroll teams and self-employed people who want to get the payment right the first time. It covers the current salary slabs, the difference between PTRC and PTEC, the new due dates, a screen-by-screen guide to paying on mahagst.gov.in, late fees and interest, and worked examples in rupees.

Quick answer

Professional tax in Maharashtra is paid online at mahagst.gov.in → Pay Your Taxes → e-Payment – PTRC-Return / PTEC. Employers deduct ₹175 or ₹200 a month (₹300 in February) from salaries and deposit it under their PTRC; businesses, directors, partners and professionals pay ₹2,500 a year a year under their PTEC. From March 2026, monthly PTRC payments are due by the 15th of the month and annual returns by 15 March.

• Men: nil up to ₹7,500, ₹175 up to ₹10,000, then ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February

• Women: nil up to ₹25,000 a month, then ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February

• Monthly returns if last year's PT liability was ₹1,00,000 or more; otherwise one annual return

• Late return: ₹200 per return within 30 days, ₹1,000 per return after — plus interest

Maharashtra professional tax slabs for salaried employees

Maharashtra levies PT under the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975. Entry 1 of its Schedule sets the salary slabs; the current version has applied since 1 April 2023, when women's exemption limit was raised.

"Salary or wages" means the gross monthly pay, including allowances, not just basic. Check the slab every month for people whose pay varies — a woman whose salary crosses ₹25,000 in a month with overtime or arrears becomes liable for that month.

The extra ₹100 in February exists because Article 276(2) of the Constitution caps PT at ₹2,500 a year per person per year. Eleven months at ₹200 plus ₹300 in February lands exactly on that cap.

Maharashtra PT at a glance

₹2,500 a year

Maximum per person per year

15th of the month

Monthly PTRC due day

from March 2026

15 March

Annual PTRC return due

₹25,000

Women exempt up to (monthly)

PTRC vs PTEC: which one you need

Maharashtra splits PT into two registrations, and most businesses need both.

PTRC — Profession Tax Registration Certificate. This is the employer's registration. Once you pay any employee a salary above the exemption limit, you must hold a PTRC, deduct PT from that employee's pay and deposit it with the state. You are liable to pay the tax whether or not you actually deducted it, so a payroll error becomes your cost, not the employee's.

PTEC — Profession Tax Enrolment Certificate. This is for tax owed on your own account. The Schedule charges ₹2,500 a year a year on companies (entry 18), LLPs (entry 18A), each partner of a firm or LLP (entry 19), each director of a company (entry 5), each adult co-parcener of a HUF in business, people registered under the Maharashtra GST Act (entry 20A) and listed professionals such as lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants, consultants, agents and contractors. Shop and establishment owners not covered elsewhere pay ₹1,000 to ₹2,500 depending on staff and location.

PTRC vs PTEC in Maharashtra

	PTRC (registration)	PTEC (enrolment)
Who needs it	Every employer paying salaries above the exemption limit	Companies, LLPs, partners, directors, GST-registered persons, professionals
What you pay	PT deducted from each employee as per slab	Your own PT — usually ₹2,500 a year a year
How often	Monthly or annually, by previous-year liability	Once a year
Return	Yes — PTRC return for each period (Form III-B template)	No return; payment only
Late registration penalty	₹5 per day	₹2 per day

Who needs it

PTRC (registration)

Every employer paying salaries above the exemption limit

PTEC (enrolment)

Companies, LLPs, partners, directors, GST-registered persons, professionals

What you pay

PTRC (registration)

PT deducted from each employee as per slab

PTEC (enrolment)

Your own PT — usually ₹2,500 a year a year

How often

PTRC (registration)

Monthly or annually, by previous-year liability

PTEC (enrolment)

Once a year

Return

PTRC (registration)

Yes — PTRC return for each period (Form III-B template)

PTEC (enrolment)

No return; payment only

Late registration penalty

PTRC (registration)

₹5 per day

PTEC (enrolment)

₹2 per day

A director who already has ₹2,500 deducted from salary as an employee of the company does not pay a second ₹2,500 under PTEC: where a person falls under more than one entry, the Schedule applies only the highest rate, and the constitutional cap still applies. A director with no salary from the company must pay through his or her own PTEC.

Due dates after the 2026 amendment

On 28 February 2026 the Finance Department amended Rule 11(3) of the Maharashtra PT Rules, with immediate effect. The department said in Trade Circular 01T of 2026 that the change was made "considering the exigencies of State revenue". Two dates moved:

• Monthly PTRC returns and payment: due on the 15th of the month instead of the last date of the month. The rule ties the return to the month in which salary is paid: if you pay April salaries in early May, the PT deducted goes into the May return, now due by 15 May.
• Annual PTRC returns and payment: due by 15 March instead of 31 March. The annual return covers salary paid from March of the previous year to February of the current year — which is why the February ₹300 is in it.

Which one applies to you depends on your PT liability in the previous year. Employers whose liability was ₹1,00,000 or more file monthly; those below it file one annual return. The threshold was ₹50,000 until a June 2019 amendment, which is why older guides still quote that figure. The department also publishes each employer's periodicity at the start of the year — the list for 2026-27 is on the mahagst.gov.in home page.

For PTEC, the Act requires enrolled persons to pay the year's tax by 30 June, or within a month of enrolment if they enrol after 31 May. Several 2026 explainers now quote 15 June for PTEC because of the amended illustration in Rule 11; that illustration deals with employers' returns, but paying by 15 June costs nothing and removes any doubt.

Maharashtra PT calendar (from March 2026)

15th of each month

Monthly PTRC return and payment for salaries paid that month (liability ≥ ₹1,00,000 last year)

15 June

Safe date for PTEC annual payment (Act: by 30 June)

February payroll

Deduct ₹300 instead of ₹200 for employees in the top slab

15 March

Annual PTRC return and payment for salary paid March–February

April

Check the department's periodicity list for the new year

How to pay professional tax online on mahagst.gov.in

The Maharashtra GST Department moved its Profession Tax services to a new IT system in early 2026. Payments, registration and returns now all run on mahagst.gov.in. Payment is made online through the bank gateway on the portal; keep the e-receipt as your proof.

Paying PTRC or PTEC online

1. 1

   Open the payment page

   On mahagst.gov.in, open Pay Your Taxes and, under PT Payments, choose e-Payment – PTRC-Return / PTEC. Use PTEC Payment / OTPT only if you want the one-time payment option for an existing PTEC.

   Open PT e-Payment
2. 2

   Identify yourself

   Select TIN and enter your PTRC or PTEC number. If you are liable but not yet registered, use PAN/URD Payment (or TAN/URD for government offices). Enter the security code and click Next.

   Tip: Check that the name fetched against your TIN or PAN is correct before you continue.

3. 3

   Choose the act and period

   Pick PTRC for tax deducted from salaries or PTEC for your own tax. For PTRC, choose the month (monthly filers) or the year (annual filers) that the payment is for.

4. 4

   Enter the amount and pay

   Enter tax, and any interest or late fee separately if you are paying late. Complete the payment through your bank on the gateway.

5. 5

   Save and verify the receipt

   Download the challan receipt. Use View/Verify e-Payment on the same menu to confirm the payment has reached the department.

6. 6

   File the PTRC return

   Log in and file the PTRC return for the period by the due date, using the challan details. A payment without a return still attracts the late fee.

Paying with PAN in an emergency. When the new portal had problems in March 2026, the department allowed unregistered employers and PTEC holders to pay against their PAN and treated those payments as valid if they applied for registration by 30 April 2026 (Trade Circular 01T of 2026). That relaxation was for March 2026 only, but the PAN/URD option itself remains on the payment page for anyone who becomes liable before their registration is granted.

Worked examples in ₹

Example 1 — a 12-person firm in Pune. Staff: eight men earning above ₹10,000, one man earning ₹9,000, two women earning ₹22,000 and one woman earning ₹30,000.

• Monthly deduction: 8 × ₹200 + ₹175 + 0 + ₹200 = ₹1,975
• February deduction: 9 × ₹300 + ₹175 = ₹2,875
• Full year: 11 × ₹1,975 + ₹2,875 = ₹24,600

That is below ₹1,00,000, so once the firm is past its first year it files one annual PTRC return and pays by 15 March. Many payroll teams still deposit monthly to avoid a large March outflow; paying early is allowed. A new registrant should expect to file monthly until the department fixes its periodicity.

Example 2 — a 50-person factory in Aurangabad. All 50 workers earn above ₹10,000. Monthly PT = 50 × ₹200 = ₹10,000; February = ₹15,000; yearly = ₹1,25,000. Because that is over ₹1 lakh, the factory files monthly next year. April salaries paid on 5 May mean ₹10,000 is due by 15 May.

Example 3 — a private limited company's own PTEC. A Mumbai company with two directors, neither drawing a salary: the company pays ₹2,500 a year under its PTEC and each director pays ₹2,500 a year under his or her own PTEC — ₹7,500 in all, by 30 June (pay by 15 June to be safe).

Example 4 — paying late. A monthly filer forgets the May return and pays ₹10,000 and files on 10 June, 26 days late. The late fee is ₹200 per return because the return is within 30 days. Interest also runs on the ₹10,000 from 15 May; under section 9 it is charged per month or part of a month (the BCAS referencer lists 1.25% for the first month, so about ₹125 here). Had the return gone in after 30 days, the late fee would have been ₹1,000 per return.

Our free salary slip generator has a professional tax line, so the February ₹300 and the women's exemption show correctly on each payslip.

Joiners, leavers and staff outside Maharashtra

PT follows the month in which salary is paid, so people who join or leave mid-year pay only for the months they are on your payroll. A man earning ₹40,000 who joins in October pays ₹200 a month from October to January, ₹300 in February and ₹200 in March — ₹1,300 for the year. Someone who leaves in December never reaches February, so their total stays at ₹200 for each month worked. Don't try to "catch up" the full ₹2,500 a year in the final month; the slab is monthly.

The tax depends on where the employee works, not where your company is registered. A Mumbai company with a sales team in Bengaluru deducts Karnataka's PT for those people and registers there, while a Delhi company with a branch in Nagpur needs a Maharashtra PTRC for the Nagpur staff. Remote employees are usually taxed where they actually work from, so keep each employee's work location up to date in payroll.

If an employee's salary drops into a lower slab — say a man moves to part-time work at ₹9,500 — switch to ₹175 from the next salary month. If a woman's pay crosses ₹25,000 because of an increment, start deducting from the month the higher salary is paid, and remember that arrears paid in one lump sum can push that month's salary over the limit.

When a payment goes wrong

Two errors are common on the new portal: paying under the wrong act (PTEC instead of PTRC) and paying for the wrong period. Neither is fixed by paying again. Note the challan number and raise a service request through the helpdesk module on mahagst.gov.in, asking the department to re-credit the amount to the correct act or period; the department published a user manual for that module in 2026. Keep copies of the receipt and the request, because the late fee and interest will be calculated on the department's records until the correction is made.

Late fees, interest and penalties

The Act and rules stack several charges:

• Late fee on returns — ₹200 per return if filed within 30 days of the due date, ₹1,000 per return from the 31st day, under the 2014 notification cited in Trade Circular 2T of 2026.
• Interest on late payment — charged monthly on unpaid tax under section 9. The department's March 2026 late-fee waiver said in terms that interest was not waived.
• Penalty for non-payment — up to 10% of the tax due, if there is no reasonable cause.
• Late registration or enrolment — ₹5 per day for a PTRC and ₹2 per day for a PTEC.

Trade circulars sometimes waive late fees after system problems — 2T of 2026 waived the whole fee for March 2026 and annual 2025-26 returns filed by 30 April 2026, if the tax had been paid by 15 March. Don't plan around waivers; they come with conditions and never cover interest.

Who is exempt from professional tax in Maharashtra

Section 27A of the Act exempts certain people from PT altogether. Payroll references list these groups:

• Women earning up to ₹25,000 a month (from 1 April 2023)
• Persons aged 65 and above
• Members of the armed forces of the Union serving in Maharashtra
• Persons with a benchmark disability, as defined by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 — widened by the 2023 amendment — and parents or guardians of a person with a disability
• Badli workers in the textile industry
• Women agents under the Mahila Pradhan Kshetriya Bachat Yojana

Keep proof on file for each exempt employee — an age proof, a disability certificate or a service document — because an assessment officer will ask why PT was not deducted.

Common mistakes and how they get fixed

Still paying at month-end. If your payroll calendar has "PT payment: 30th", every monthly payment since March 2026 has been late. Move the date to the 15th and pay any late fee and interest due.

Deducting from women under ₹25,000. Some payroll software still uses the old ₹10,000 limit for women. Refund the excess deduction to the employee through payroll, and adjust it in your next return.

Forgetting February. Missing the extra ₹100 leaves each employee ₹100 short of the ₹2,500 a year due, and the shortfall is your liability as the employer.

Paying PTRC but not filing the return. A challan alone is not compliance. The return must be filed for the same period, or the late fee applies.

No PTEC for the company or directors. Companies often register for PTRC and forget their own PTEC; the department can levy tax for every missed year along with interest and penalty.

Maharashtra professional tax checklist

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• Hold a PTRC for staff in Maharashtra and a PTEC for the business and each non-salaried director or partner
• Set slabs by gender: men from ₹7,501, women from ₹25,001 a month
• Deduct ₹300 in February for everyone in the top slab
• Check your monthly or annual periodicity for this year on mahagst.gov.in
• Pay monthly PTRC by the 15th, annual PTRC by 15 March
• Pay PTEC by 15 June to be safe (Act: 30 June)
• File the PTRC return for every period, even if the payment was made
• Keep proof for exempt employees (age, disability, armed forces)

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Income tax treatment

Employees can deduct the professional tax paid from salary income only if they file under the old income-tax regime; the default new regime does not allow it. Your Form 16 shows the amount. Businesses and professionals can claim their own PTEC payment as a business expense. Our TDS calculator helps you work out the rest of the salary deductions.

Official links

• Maharashtra GST Department — PT e-Payment (PTRC / PTEC)Pay by TIN, PAN/URD or TAN/URD
• PTEC Payment / OTPT
• View / verify e-Payment
• PT rate schedule (PDF)Slabs and PTEC entries
• Profession tax trade circularsIncludes 01T and 2T of 2026
• Profession tax notifications

What to do next

Move your PT payment date to the 15th, confirm your periodicity for 2026-27, and make sure the company and every non-salaried director has a PTEC paid for the year. For the rules in other states, see our state-wise professional tax guide and the guide to professional tax in Andhra Pradesh. If you are also setting pay for new joiners, check the minimum wages in Maharashtra first.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How do I pay professional tax online in Maharashtra?

Go to mahagst.gov.in, open Pay Your Taxes and choose 'e-Payment – PTRC-Return / PTEC' under PT Payments. Enter your PTRC or PTEC TIN (or PAN if you are not yet registered), the security code, the act, the period and the amount, pay through the bank gateway and download the receipt. Employers must then file the PTRC return for the period.

What is the due date for PTRC payment in Maharashtra in 2026?

Since a rules amendment of 28 February 2026, monthly PTRC returns and payments are due by the 15th of the month — 15 days earlier than before — and annual returns by 15 March. Employers whose PT liability in the previous year was ₹1,00,000 or more file monthly; the rest file once a year.

What is the professional tax slab for women in Maharashtra?

From 1 April 2023, women earning up to ₹25,000 a month pay no professional tax. Above that, they pay ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February — ₹2,500 a year a year. Men pay nothing up to ₹7,500, ₹175 a month between ₹7,501 and ₹10,000, and ₹200 a month (₹300 in February) above ₹10,000.

Why is ₹300 deducted in February in Maharashtra?

Article 276 of the Constitution caps professional tax at ₹2,500 a year a year. Eleven months at ₹200 add up to ₹2,200, so Maharashtra's schedule collects ₹300 in February to reach exactly ₹2,500. The ₹175 slab for men earning ₹7,501–₹10,000 has no February top-up, so it totals ₹2,100 a year.

What is the difference between PTRC and PTEC in Maharashtra?

PTRC (registration certificate) lets an employer deduct PT from staff salaries and pay it to the state, with periodic returns. PTEC (enrolment certificate) is for the tax a business or person owes on their own account — a company, LLP, partner, director or professional usually pays ₹2,500 a year a year. A company with staff in Maharashtra needs both.

What is the late fee for PTRC returns in Maharashtra?

The late fee for a PTRC return is ₹200 per return if the return is filed within 30 days of the due date and ₹1,000 per return after that, under a 2014 notification the department still applies. Interest on late payment is charged separately and is not waived by any late-fee relief.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 7 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Rate Schedules under the Profession Tax Act, 1975 (as on 31.03.2025) — Maharashtra State Tax Department · accessed 7 October 2026
2. 2.Notification No. व्यकर-2026/C.R.4/Taxation-3 dated 28 February 2026 — Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments (Amendment) Rules, 2026 — Finance Department, Government of Maharashtra (Gazette Extraordinary Part IV-B No. 91, reproduced by SGCMS) · accessed 7 October 2026
3. 3.Trade Circular No. 01T of 2026 — relaxation in registration and filing of returns — Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra · accessed 7 October 2026
4. 4.Trade Circular No. 2T of 2026 — exemption from late fee for March 2026 returns — Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra · accessed 7 October 2026
5. 5.e-Payment – PTRC-Return / PTEC — Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Department · accessed 7 October 2026
6. 6.Maharashtra Profession Tax: returns and payment due dates w.e.f. 01/04/2023 — TaxGuru · accessed 7 October 2026
7. 7.Maharashtra Profession Tax Act — referencer — Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society · accessed 7 October 2026
8. 8.Maharashtra exempts women earning up to ₹25,000 and persons with benchmark disability from professional tax — Lexplosion · accessed 7 October 2026
9. 9.Professional tax — Maharashtra — Zoho Payroll Academy · accessed 7 October 2026