Payroll & statutory · Updated October 2026
PTEC and PTRC are the two professional tax registrations under Maharashtra’s law. PTEC (Professional Tax Enrolment Certificate) covers the tax a business or person owes on its own account; PTRC (Professional Tax Registration Certificate) is what an employer needs to deduct professional tax from staff salaries and pay it to the state.
Both come from the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975, and both are applied for on the state’s GST department portal (mahagst.gov.in). The difference is whose tax is being paid.
| PTEC (enrolment) | PTRC (registration) | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose tax | The holder’s own | Employees’, deducted from pay |
| Typical holders | Companies, LLPs, firms, proprietors, self-employed professionals | Any employer with staff paid above the nil slab |
| What it involves | An annual payment, commonly the Rs 2,500 maximum | Monthly deduction, deposit and periodic returns |
A private limited company in Pune with 40 staff therefore usually holds both: a PTEC for the company’s own tax and a PTRC for what it deducts from salaries. A freelancer with no staff needs only a PTEC. A common slip is a startup that registers for PTRC when the first hire joins and forgets the company’s own PTEC, which surfaces years later as arrears with interest.
How often PTRC returns are due depends on the employer’s liability in the previous year, and Maharashtra has revised due dates through trade circulars more than once, including in 2026. Treat any due date you read on a blog, ours included, as something to check against the current circular. Put the confirmed dates on your compliance calendar.
The PTEC and PTRC labels are Maharashtra’s. Karnataka’s 1976 Act follows a similar split, a registration certificate for employers deducting tax and an enrolment certificate for those liable on their own account, while other states use their own names, forms and portals. Some states do not levy the tax at all (see professional tax by state). Read each state’s own rules rather than assuming the Maharashtra model carries over.
No. PTRC is tied to deducting tax from employees, so without staff there is nothing to deduct, though the company itself may still need a PTEC for its own liability.
Yes, in each state that levies it, because the deduction follows the employee’s place of work. Multi-state employers end up with several registrations and slab tables, which is where payroll software with state-wise PT rules earns its keep.
You are holding the state’s money without a registration to remit it, which brings interest and penalties once noticed. Register first, and keep deductions visible in your statutory registers.
Work out the monthly deduction for any salary in the professional tax calculator.