State compliance · verified August 2026
Professional tax in Kerala
The bands in force in August 2026, what they cost across a year, and the one distinction that makes most published tables wrong. On ₹5,000 a month, Kerala takes ₹600 per half year, or ₹1,200 for the year. Work it out for your own salary.
The slabs
| Salary per half year | Tax per half year | Total for the year |
|---|---|---|
| Up to ₹11,999 | Nil | Nil |
| ₹12,000 to ₹17,999 | ₹320 | ₹640 |
| ₹18,000 to ₹29,999 | ₹450 | ₹900 |
| ₹30,000 to ₹44,999 | ₹600 | ₹1,200 |
| ₹45,000 to ₹99,999 | ₹750 | ₹1,500 |
| ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,24,999 | ₹1,000 | ₹2,000 |
| ₹1,25,000 and above | ₹1,250 | ₹2,500 |
The top band works out to exactly ₹2,500 a year, which is the ceiling Article 276(2) of the Constitution puts on professional tax. No state may charge a rupee more, whatever anyone earns.
Paid twice a year, by 31 August for the April to September half and by 28 February for the October to March half.
Kerala fixes professional tax through the municipality or panchayat the workplace sits in, not centrally. The table above is one such body's and another may differ, so confirm locally before running payroll on it.
Work out your own figure
The bands above, applied to a salary you choose. Everything here is computed from the same reviewed table the rest of this page is, so the calculator and the article cannot disagree.
Deduct every half year
₹600
Kerala collects twice a year.
Cost for the full year
₹1,200
₹1,300 below the ₹2,500 constitutional maximum.
That is the ₹30,000 to ₹44,999 band of the Kerala table, read on half-yearly salary. See all 7 bands above
Kerala looks the band up on half-yearly salary and collects over the same period, so the ₹600 above is both the band figure and the amount deducted.
In Kerala the rate is set locally, not by the state. The table on this page is the one that applies in most local bodies, and it is the figure almost every published table quotes for Kerala. Your own rate is fixed by the municipality or panchayat the workplace sits in, so confirm it there before you run payroll on it. This is the one state category where a national calculator, this one included, cannot give you a final answer.
Paid twice a year, by 31 August for the April to September half and by 28 February for the October to March half.
Monthly or annual: the distinction that ruins most tables
Kerala looks your band up on your salary over a six month half year, and the money is handed over twice a year. Both halves of the rule use the same period, which makes this one of the easier states to get right.
Two different periods are at work in every professional tax rule and they are genuinely independent: the period the band threshold is measured over, and the period the money is handed over in. All four combinations exist across India. Madhya Pradesh reads an annual band and collects monthly; Kerala does both half-yearly; Bihar does both annually; Andhra Pradesh does both monthly. That is why one careless column heading produces an answer that is out by a factor of twelve and still looks entirely reasonable, and it is how at least one widely syndicated table ends up showing a state charging ₹2,500 per month, twelve times the maximum the Constitution allows for the whole year.
Worked example
An employee in Kerala on ₹5,000 a month.
| Monthly salary | ₹5,000 |
|---|---|
| Salary the band is read on (six months) | ₹30,000 |
| Tax per half year | ₹600 |
| Instalments in the year | 2 |
| Total for the financial year | ₹1,200 |
Who deducts it, and what goes wrong
The employee bears professional tax; the employer deducts it from salary and deposits it. The duty to register, deduct, deposit twice a yearand file the return sits on the person paying the salary, which means an under-deduction becomes the employer's arrears with interest and penalty, recovered from the business rather than from the staff. The employee's side of it is simple: Section 16(iii) of the Income Tax Act allows the professional tax actually paid to be deducted from salary income, so it is not taxed twice.
In practice the costly mistake is almost never evasion. It is a stale table. Slabs move with state budgets, and payroll quietly running last year's figures accumulates a shortfall across every employee, every half year, until somebody checks. Assam raised its exemption in April 2025, Karnataka added its February top-up in the same month, Maharashtra moved the threshold for women in 2023. Each of those turned a correct payroll into an incorrect one on a single date, without any error message.
Questions people ask
How much professional tax is deducted in Kerala?
It depends on the band your salary falls in. On ₹5,000 a month, Kerala charges ₹600 per half year, which is ₹1,200 across the financial year. The full band table is on this page. The top band works out to exactly ₹2,500 a year, which is the ceiling Article 276(2) of the Constitution puts on professional tax. No state may charge a rupee more, whatever anyone earns.
Is the Kerala professional tax slab monthly or annual?
Kerala looks your band up on your salary over a six month half year, and the money is handed over twice a year. Both halves of the rule use the same period, which makes this one of the easier states to get right.
Who pays professional tax in Kerala, the employer or the employee?
The employee bears it and the employer deducts it. Section 16(iii) of the Income Tax Act then lets the employee deduct the professional tax actually paid from salary income, so it is not taxed twice. The employer's duty is to register, deduct correctly, deposit twice a year and file the return; a failure to deduct does not move the liability onto the employee, it stays with the employer along with the interest and penalty.
What is the professional tax exemption limit in Kerala?
Nothing is payable up to ₹11,999 per half year. Above that the first paying band begins at ₹12,000. Note the odd rupee: bands are inclusive of their upper bound, so an employee sitting exactly on ₹11,999 pays nothing and one rupee more moves them into the next band.
What is the maximum professional tax anyone can be charged?
₹2,500 per person per financial year, anywhere in India. Article 276(2) of the Constitution fixes that ceiling and no state legislature can raise it. In Kerala the top band comes to ₹2,500 a year. Any table showing a figure above ₹2,500 a year is a misprint, and the usual cause is an annual amount printed under a column headed "per month".
What happens if an employer does not deduct professional tax in Kerala?
The liability stays with the employer. State professional tax Acts put the duty to register, deduct and deposit on the person paying the salary, so an under-deduction becomes the employer's arrears together with interest and a penalty, and it is recovered from the business rather than from the staff. In practice the expensive version is not deliberate evasion but a stale slab table: the rates move with state budgets, and payroll that quietly runs last year's figures accumulates a shortfall across every employee, every half year, until somebody checks.
Other states
19 states and union territories are covered, and 3 that levy the tax are deliberately not, because no published slab for them could be cross-checked to the standard the rest of this table meets.
All states, side by side · Professional tax calculator · All free tools
Slabs verified August 2026 and stated as in force on that date. Professional tax rates are set by state legislatures and move with state budgets, so treat this as a dated reference and confirm against the Kerala notification before you rely on it for a payroll run. Every figure on this page, including those in the worked example and the answers below the table, is computed from the same reviewed band data rather than typed separately, so the page and the calculator cannot disagree. This is general information, not tax advice. If you believe anything here is wrong, write to support@shiftelio.com and we will correct it.