Maharashtra exempts women earning up to Rs 25,000 per month from Professional Tax

Maharashtra exempts women earning up to Rs. 25,000 per month from professional tax. The exemption was introduced by the 2023 amendment and applies to the employee's gender rather than to any category of work, so it operates as a straight threshold difference between men and women in the same role at the same salary.

Two further Maharashtra changes matter alongside it, and both are recent.

The filing due date moved. Notification No. VyaKar-2026/C.R.4/Taxation-3 dated 28 February 2026 amended Rule 11(3) through the Amendment Rules 2026, advancing the monthly deadline from month-end to the 15th. From March 2026 professional tax is due by the 15th of each month, and the annual return by 15 March. If your calendar still carries a month-end reminder for Maharashtra, every filing from March 2026 onwards is late.

Maharashtra also runs two separate registrations. PTEC covers the entity's own liability at Rs. 2,500 a year with no return required. PTRC covers deductions from employees and is filed monthly or annually in Form III-B. Holding one and not the other is a common gap, particularly for newly registered establishments that set up PTRC for payroll and overlook PTEC for the entity itself.

The women's exemption combined with the Rs. 25,000 threshold means a meaningful share of a Maharashtra workforce may fall outside the net entirely. Configure it as a rule rather than maintaining a manual exclusion list, because the population changes with every salary revision. Maharashtra also raised its PTRC return-filing threshold to Rs. 1,00,000, which changes whether an establishment files monthly or annually, so check that separately from the deduction rules themselves.