Professional tax
When to pay, how much.
Not yet verified against an official source
Punjab levies the tax on professions, trades, callings and employment under its own name — the Punjab State Development Tax. The rate is flat and there is no salary slab: the Act taxes only those who are liable to income tax.
- Who pays
- A person is liable only if their taxable income for the year, before deducting this tax, exceeds the amount not chargeable to income tax. Senior citizens are not exempt as such; they have a higher income-tax threshold and are liable above itPunjab State Development Tax Act, 2018, section 4(2) and (3), and the department's FAQ
- The income-tax threshold
- Not yet addedThe department's last published table, in a letter of 13 December 2024, gives ₹3,00,000 under the new regime for 2023-24 and 2024-25, and stops there. It has published nothing for a later year, so no current figure is shown
- Who is exempt
- A person earning wages on a casual basis, and an agriculturist selling only their own produce grown in PunjabSection 2(j), proviso
- The employer's duty
- The employer deducts the tax before paying the salary and is liable to pay it whether or not it deducted. An employee with more than one employer who has enrolled and declared it pays for themselves insteadSection 5
- Registration and enrolment
- An employer registers within sixty days of the Act starting, or thirty days of starting business. A person who is not an employee enrols instead, and the certificate states the tax and the date it is dueSection 6
- Companies
- A company is both a person and an employer, so it registers twice — ₹2,400 a year on its own account, and the tax on its employees as an employerThe department's FAQ, answer 9
- Paying late
- Simple interest at 2% of the tax due for each month it stays unpaidThe department's FAQ, answers 23 and 24
- February adjustment
- Not yet addedThe Act sets none. The amount is the same in every month of the year