Tamil Nadu Professional Tax (2026): Half-Yearly Slabs, Due Dates and How to Pay

Tamil Nadu's professional tax works differently from almost every other state. There is no state PT department and no monthly slab: each city corporation, municipality and panchayat levies "profession tax" twice a year on your average half-yearly income. This guide is for employers running payroll in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu, and for employees and professionals checking what they owe. It covers who levies the tax, the Chennai slabs after the 2024 revision, the 30 September and 31 March due dates, how employers deduct, file and pay, and worked examples in rupees.

Quick answer

Professional tax in Tamil Nadu is a half-yearly tax levied by local bodies under the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998. In Greater Chennai Corporation, it is nil up to ₹21,000 of half-yearly income and rises to ₹1,250 per half-year per half-year above ₹75,000. Employers deduct it from salary and remit it before 30 September (April–September) and 31 March (October–March).

• Chennai slabs since Oct 2024: ₹180, ₹425, ₹930, ₹1,025 and ₹1,250 per half-year per half-year

• Anyone earning more than ₹12,500 a month pays the top rate — ₹2,500 a year

• Employers file Form 14 and Form 15 before paying; payment goes by NEFT using the PTNAN

• Other corporations and municipalities set their own rates within the ₹2,500 cap

Who levies professional tax in Tamil Nadu

Most states collect professional tax through their commercial taxes department. Tamil Nadu leaves it to local government. Urban local bodies — the Greater Chennai Corporation and the other city corporations, municipalities and town panchayats — levy it under Chapter VI-A of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998, as amended in 2022. Village panchayats levy their own profession tax under panchayat law, with a separate schedule.

The levying provision is section 117-B. After the 2022 amendment, it says each branch or unit of a company, Hindu undivided family, firm, corporation, society, club or association that transacts business, and every person engaged in a profession, trade, calling or employment within the municipal area on the first day of the half-year, pays half-yearly tax at the prescribed rates. A proviso caps the tax at ₹2,500 per employee per year, matching the ₹2,500 a year ceiling in Article 276 of the Constitution. People employed on a casual basis are outside the definition of "person".

Three other sections matter to employers. Section 117-C makes the employer liable to deduct the tax from salaries and pay it on the employee's behalf. Section 117-D requires the employer to file returns. Section 117-F provides for penalty and interest when tax is not deducted or paid. The detailed procedure is in the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023 — Greater Chennai Corporation cites rule 277(2) for half-yearly deduction and rule 278 for submitting deduction details.

Because the tax is local, the relevant body is the one where the employee works or the business operates. A Chennai company with a factory in Hosur pays Chennai profession tax for its head-office staff and Hosur's for the factory workers, each at that body's rates.

Chennai professional tax slabs for 2026

The table below is Greater Chennai Corporation's schedule as published on its Revenue Department page. The current column has applied from the second half of 2024-25 — that is, from 1 October 2024 — after the corporation council approved a revision in December 2024 that the state government had cleared. Income means average half-yearly income: for a salaried employee, the gross salary for the six months.

The 2024 revision raised the three middle slabs by roughly a third (₹135 to ₹180, ₹315 to ₹425, ₹690 to ₹930) and left the top two untouched. The top slab couldn't go higher: two half-years at ₹1,250 already reach the ₹2,500 annual cap.

In practice the slabs are low. Half-yearly income of ₹75,001 is just ₹12,500 a month, so nearly every full-time salaried employee in Chennai pays the top rate of ₹1,250 per half-year per half-year. The lower slabs matter mostly for part-time staff, apprentices on stipends above the exemption, and new joiners whose half-year income is only partly with you.

Chennai professional tax at a glance

₹1,250 per half-year

Top rate per half-year

above ₹75,000

₹21,000

Exempt half-yearly income

30 September

First half-year remittance

31 March

Second half-year remittance

How the rates are revised

Tamil Nadu's profession tax law has long provided for the rates to be revised once every five years by a local body's council, by not less than 25% and not more than 35% of the previous tax, as the town panchayat provisions on the state government's site still show. The history fits that pattern: Chennai revised its rates from 1 April 2018 and again from 1 October 2024, each time by roughly a third on the lower slabs. The 2022 amendment moved the actual rates out of a table in the Act and into prescribed rates, but the ₹2,500 cap now sits in the Act itself.

What this means for payroll: don't expect Chennai's rates to change every year, but check the corporation's Revenue Department page before each April and October run. A revision can be approved mid-year and applied from the next half-year, as happened in late 2024.

Other local bodies. Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Tiruppur and the other corporations, and every municipality and town panchayat, set their own schedules. Payroll vendors publish tables for them, but we could not confirm current rates for bodies other than Chennai from an official page in October 2026. Ask the local body's revenue section for its current schedule in writing before your first deduction there. Whatever the slab, the per-employee total cannot exceed ₹2,500 a year.

Due dates: the two half-years

The financial year is split into two half-years: 1 April to 30 September, and 1 October to 31 March. The Act's provisions look to people engaged in employment or business on the first day of the half-year, and the tax for each half-year must reach the local body within that half-year.

Greater Chennai Corporation spells out the timing for employers in its notices:

• First half (April–September): deduct the half-year's tax from the August salary and remit it before 30 September. The corporation repeated this in an August 2026 reminder.
• Second half (October–March): deduct the tax from salary by January and remit it before 31 March, as the corporation's March 2025 notice says.

Professionals, traders and companies paying on their own account follow the same half-year cycle. Under the Act, a return from a non-salaried taxpayer counts as filed only if it comes with proof of full payment, and the self-assessment can be based on the average half-yearly income of the previous financial year.

Tamil Nadu professional tax calendar (Chennai)

1 April

First half-year starts — liability attaches to people engaged on this date

August payroll

Deduct April–September profession tax from salary

Before 30 September

File Form 14 and Form 15, then remit the first half's tax

1 October

Second half-year starts

January payroll

Deduct October–March profession tax from salary

Before 31 March

File Form 14 and Form 15, then remit the second half's tax

How employers deduct and pay in Chennai

Registration comes first. A new employer or business applies to the corporation and receives a permanent profession tax number called the PTNAN (Profession Tax New Assessment Number). The corporation's Revenue Department page says online self-assessment for new profession tax bookings is available on its website.

Paying Chennai profession tax as an employer

1. 1

   Work out each employee's half-yearly income

   Add the gross salary for the six months (April–September or October–March), including allowances. Apply the slab to that total.

   Tip: For staff who joined mid-half-year, use what they earn with you in that half-year, and check whether a previous employer already deducted for it.

2. 2

   Deduct from salary

   Recover the tax from the August salary (first half) or by the January salary (second half). Show it as 'Profession tax' on the payslip.

3. 3

   File Form 14 and Form 15

   Log in to the corporation portal and upload the Form 14 recovery return with the Form 15 employee-wise details, using the corporation's Excel templates. The March 2025 notice says this is mandatory before payment.

4. 4

   Pay the corporation

   Pay by NEFT, RTGS or ECS to IDFC First Bank (IFSC IDFB0080101), account name 'Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation Profession Tax', with your PTNAN without hyphens as the account number. Card, cheque, demand draft and online payment on chennaicorporation.gov.in are also accepted.

   Greater Chennai Corporation
5. 5

   Get the receipt

   The corporation's 2026 reminder asks employers to send the Form 14/15 details to its profession tax email ([email protected]) to receive official receipts. Keep the receipt with the payroll file for the half-year.

Leavers and full-and-final settlements. Because the levy looks at people engaged on the first day of the half-year, an employee who resigns in May is still liable for the April–September half-year. If you normally recover the tax in August, recover it in the final settlement instead, at the slab that matches what the person actually earned with you in that half-year. Skipping it leaves the tax as your liability under section 117-C, and the corporation's records will show a short payment against your PTNAN.

Contract and agency staff. Workers supplied by a manpower agency are the agency's employees, so the agency deducts and remits the tax under its own assessment number. Ask for the agency's half-yearly challan as part of your contractor compliance file — it is the easiest way to show an inspector that the tax for people working on your premises has been paid.

Outside Chennai, the steps are similar but the forms, portal and bank details differ. Many municipalities still accept payment at the counter or through the state's urban local bodies portal; ask the revenue section which channel it uses.

Worked examples in ₹ (Chennai)

Example 1 — a small IT services firm in Guindy. Ten employees earn between ₹25,000 and ₹60,000 a month. Each one's half-yearly income is well above ₹75,000, so each pays ₹1,250 per half-year per half-year.

• April–September: 10 × ₹1,250 = ₹12,500, deducted from August salaries, remitted before 30 September
• October–March: another ₹12,500, deducted by January, remitted before 31 March
• Each employee's total for the year: ₹2,500

Example 2 — part-time and low-paid staff. A shop in T. Nagar has three part-timers:

• ₹3,000 a month → ₹18,000 a half-year → nil
• ₹4,500 a month → ₹27,000 → ₹180
• ₹7,000 a month → ₹42,000 → ₹425

A fourth assistant earns ₹9,500 a month — ₹57,000 a half-year — and pays ₹930. Before October 2024 these four would have paid ₹0, ₹135, ₹315 and ₹690; the revision raised their combined bill from ₹1,140 to ₹1,535 a half-year.

Example 3 — a mid-half-year joiner. Priya joins a Chennai company on 1 July on ₹40,000 a month. Her earnings with the new employer in April–September are ₹1,20,000 (July, August, September). If her previous employer, also in Chennai, already deducted ₹1,250 per half-year for that half-year, the new employer should not deduct again — the Act says payment to one local body for a half-year covers you even if you move. Ask for the previous payslip as proof. If nothing was deducted earlier, the new employer deducts ₹1,250 in August.

Example 4 — variable pay. A sales executive earns ₹11,000 a month fixed and gets a ₹10,000 incentive in September. Half-yearly income: 6 × ₹11,000 + ₹10,000 = ₹76,000 — just over ₹75,000, so the tax is ₹1,250 per half-year, not ₹1,025. If you deduct in August before the incentive is known, you may need a top-up of ₹225 in September; build that check into the payroll run.

Our free salary slip generator lets you add the profession tax line in the month you recover it, so the August and January payslips show the half-year deduction clearly.

Tamil Nadu vs a typical monthly-PT state

	Tamil Nadu (Chennai)	Most other PT states
Who levies	Local body (corporation, municipality, panchayat)	State commercial taxes department
Period	Half-year (Apr–Sep, Oct–Mar)	Month
Income tested	Average half-yearly income	Monthly salary
Typical salaried employee	₹1,250 per half-year × 2 = ₹2,500	₹200 × 11 + ₹300 = ₹2,500
Employer deposit	Before 30 Sep and 31 Mar	Monthly, by a fixed day of the next month

Who levies

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

Local body (corporation, municipality, panchayat)

Most other PT states

State commercial taxes department

Period

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

Half-year (Apr–Sep, Oct–Mar)

Most other PT states

Month

Income tested

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

Average half-yearly income

Most other PT states

Monthly salary

Typical salaried employee

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

₹1,250 per half-year × 2 = ₹2,500

Most other PT states

₹200 × 11 + ₹300 = ₹2,500

Employer deposit

Tamil Nadu (Chennai)

Before 30 Sep and 31 Mar

Most other PT states

Monthly, by a fixed day of the next month

Companies, professionals and traders

Profession tax in Tamil Nadu is not only for salaried staff. Section 117-B covers every branch or unit of a company, firm, HUF, society, club or association transacting business in the area, and every person in a profession or trade there — doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, consultants, shopkeepers, contractors. They pay on their own average half-yearly income using the same slab structure, so in practice most established businesses and professionals in Chennai pay ₹1,250 per half-year per half-year.

The 2022 amendment made the levy apply to each branch or unit. A company with three offices within Greater Chennai Corporation limits should expect each unit to be assessed, while sub-section (7) of the town panchayat provisions says directors and partners are not separately taxed on income from an entity that already pays. Professionals are issued a pass book and must quote their PAN on returns and challans.

Exemptions

The 2022 amendment replaced clause (c) of section 117-H so that persons with a benchmark disability, as defined in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, are exempt. Section 117-H contains the other exemptions, and payroll guides list categories such as members of the armed forces, but those lists are often copied from Maharashtra's law. Before marking anyone exempt in Tamil Nadu, ask the local body to confirm the category and keep the supporting certificate — a disability certificate under the 2016 Act, for example — on file.

Common mistakes and how they get fixed

Deducting a monthly amount. Some national payroll systems apply ₹200 a month to Tamil Nadu staff by default. That is not how the tax works here and it can over-recover in months when employees leave. Switch Tamil Nadu employees to a half-yearly rule.

Using the old Chennai slabs. If your system still shows ₹135, ₹315 and ₹690, it predates October 2024. Under-deducted tax remains the employer's liability under section 117-C, so recover the difference in the next half-year with the employee's knowledge, or absorb it.

Paying without filing Form 14 and Form 15. The corporation's notice says the returns and Excel templates must be uploaded before payment. A bank transfer alone will not map the tax to your employees and may not generate a receipt.

Wrong account number on NEFT. The beneficiary account number is your PTNAN without hyphens. Paying with the hyphens, or another company's PTNAN, sends money to the wrong ledger; contact the corporation's helpdesk with the UTR to have it re-credited.

Charging staff who work elsewhere. An employee based in Bengaluru pays Karnataka PT even if the company is registered in Chennai. Tamil Nadu profession tax follows the local body where the person works.

Tamil Nadu professional tax checklist

0/8

• Register each unit with the local body and note its PTNAN or assessment number
• Switch Tamil Nadu employees to a half-yearly rule — not ₹200 a month
• Use the post-October 2024 Chennai slabs (₹180 / ₹425 / ₹930 / ₹1,025 / ₹1,250 per half-year)
• Deduct in August and by January; check variable pay before finalising
• Upload Form 14 and Form 15 before paying
• Remit before 30 September and before 31 March
• Collect proof of earlier deduction for mid-half-year joiners
• Keep disability certificates for exempt employees

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Penalties for late payment

Section 117-F of the Act provides for penalty and interest where an employer fails to deduct or pay, and section 116-A, inserted in 2022, lets the commissioner recover unpaid taxes by distraint and sale of the defaulter's property if the amount isn't paid within fifteen days of a notice, or prosecute before a magistrate. Payroll websites quote specific rates for late payment, but we could not confirm them from an official Tamil Nadu source, so we have not repeated them. The safe course is simple: deduct on time and pay before the half-year ends.

Income tax treatment

Profession tax deducted from salary is allowed as a deduction from salary income only if the employee files under the old income-tax regime; the default new regime does not allow it. Your Form 16 shows the total for the year — normally ₹2,500 for a Chennai employee at the top slab. Businesses and professionals can claim the profession tax they pay on their own account as a business expense. Use our TDS calculator to check the rest of the salary deductions.

Official links

• Greater Chennai Corporation — Revenue Department (profession tax slabs)Slabs, online payment, new bookings
• Greater Chennai Corporation — homeOnline services and employer login
• Directorate of Town Panchayats — profession tax provisions
• Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (gazette text)Section 117-B cap, section 117-H exemption
• Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal — profession tax schedule

What to do next

Confirm your PTNAN, move Tamil Nadu staff to a half-yearly rule, and diary 30 September and 31 March for remittance. If you run payroll in several states, our professional tax due dates table lists every state's deadline in one place, and the state-wise professional tax guide compares slabs. For neighbouring states, see professional tax in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

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

Frequently asked questions

What is the professional tax slab in Chennai?

Greater Chennai Corporation charges profession tax per half-year on average half-yearly income: nil up to ₹21,000, ₹180 for ₹21,001–30,000, ₹425 for ₹30,001–45,000, ₹930 for ₹45,001–60,000, ₹1,025 for ₹60,001–75,000 and ₹1,250 per half-year above ₹75,000. These rates have applied since the second half of 2024-25.

What are the due dates for professional tax in Tamil Nadu?

Profession tax is levied for two half-years: April–September and October–March. Greater Chennai Corporation asks employers to deduct the first half's tax from August salary and remit it before 30 September, and to deduct the second half's tax by January and remit it before 31 March. Other local bodies follow the same half-year cycle.

How do I pay professional tax online in Chennai?

Employers registered with Greater Chennai Corporation get a PT New Assessment Number (PTNAN). They file the Form 14 recovery return and Form 15 employee details on the corporation's portal, then pay by NEFT/RTGS to the IDFC First Bank account in the name 'Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation Profession Tax', using the PTNAN without hyphens as the account number, or online by card.

Who levies professional tax in Tamil Nadu?

There is no state-level professional tax department in Tamil Nadu. Each urban local body — corporation, municipality or town panchayat — levies it under Chapter VI-A of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998, and village panchayats levy it under panchayat law. You pay the local body where the employee works or the business operates.

What is the maximum professional tax in Tamil Nadu?

The 2022 amendment to section 117-B of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act says the tax per employee cannot exceed ₹2,500 a year, matching the Article 276 cap of ₹2,500 a year. In Chennai the top half-yearly rate is ₹1,250 per half-year, so a full year at the top slab is exactly ₹2,500.

Is professional tax in Tamil Nadu deducted monthly?

No. Unlike most states, Tamil Nadu levies profession tax per half-year on the average half-yearly income. Employers usually recover the half-year's tax in one deduction — Chennai says August salary for April–September and January salary for October–March — though some spread it over the six months. Either way, the full amount must reach the corporation by the due date.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 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.Revenue Department — Profession Tax slabs — Greater Chennai Corporation · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.Notice R.D.(HQ).C.No.PT/SPL/2024 dated 06.03.2025 — deduction and remittance of profession tax — City Revenue Officer, Greater Chennai Corporation (copy hosted by Ramco) · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 — clause 60 amending section 117-B and clause 61 amending section 117-H — Tamil Nadu Government Gazette (via PRS Legislative Research) · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Profession Tax — provisions for town panchayats — Directorate of Town Panchayats, Government of Tamil Nadu · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Profession Tax Slabs — Greater Chennai Corporation and Village Panchayats — Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal (Guidance Tamil Nadu) · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.Professional tax must be paid before Sept 30: Chennai Corporation — DT Next · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.Chennai Corporation approves professional tax hike of 35% for FY 2024-25 — DT Next · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.Article 276 — Taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments — Constitution of India (text) · accessed 9 October 2026