Professional tax for doctors and clinic staff, by state The ₹2,500 constitutional cap, the doctor's own enrolment, deductions from staff salary, and five state schedules.

Professional tax for doctors is a State tax of at most ₹2,500 a year on each person who practises a profession or earns a salary, capped by article 276(2) of the Constitution. A doctor in private practice enrols with the State and pays it on their own practice; in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana that is ₹2,500 a year for a medical practitioner (Karnataka and Telangana after a minimum standing), while West Bengal and Assam scale it by the doctor's annual gross income. If the clinic pays staff above the State's salary threshold, the doctor also registers as an employer, deducts professional tax from each salary and deposits it. The amounts, thresholds and dates differ by State, and the table below gives only the five States whose official schedule we read.

What is professional tax, and who sets the rate?

Professional tax is levied by State laws under article 276 of the Constitution of India. Article 276(1) protects a State law on "taxes for the benefit of the State or of a municipality, district board, local board or other local authority therein in respect of professions, trades, callings or employments" from being struck down as a tax on income. Article 276(2) then sets the ceiling:

The total amount payable in respect of any one person to the State or to any one municipality, district board, local board or other local authority in the State by way of taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments shall not exceed two thousand and five hundred rupees per annum.

So no State can charge one doctor more than ₹2,500 a year under this head, however many clinics they run. Within that cap each State writes its own schedule of classes of persons and rates, its own forms and its own due dates. That is why a doctor who moves from Pune to Bengaluru has to read a different Act, and why a national rule of thumb does not exist.

For income tax, a salaried person can deduct professional tax paid. Section 19(1), Table Sl. No. 1 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 allows the "Entire amount" of any "Sum paid by the assessee as a tax on employment as per article 276(2) of the Constitution" against salary income. Section 202(2)(a)(iv) withdraws that deduction under the default new tax regime, so a salaried receptionist or medical officer on the new regime gets no income-tax benefit from it. How a doctor's own practice income is taxed is in our post on income tax for doctors under the 2025 Act.

Enrolment or registration: which certificate does a doctor need?

Usually both, once the clinic has staff. The Maharashtra Act puts the distinction most plainly, and the other States we read use the same pair of terms.

Section 4 of the Maharashtra Act makes the employer liable: the tax payable by "any person earning salary or wage, shall be deducted by his employer from the salary or wage payable to such person", and the employer is liable to pay it on their behalf. If you run the clinic as a company or a firm, the entity registers as employer, and a separate schedule entry may apply to the entity itself; read the State's schedule for companies, firms and establishments before you assume the doctor's own enrolment covers it.

How much professional tax does a doctor pay in each State?

The table gives, for each State whose official schedule we read on 26 October 2026, the entry that covers a medical practitioner in their own practice and the slabs for salaried staff. Read the source in the last column for the full schedule, exemptions and any amendment after that date.

States not listed: we did not read an official, current schedule for any other State or Union territory this session, so we have not stated a rate for them. That includes States that levy the tax through local bodies, and States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, whose official pages we could not reach or could not read. We have not checked which States and Union territories levy no professional tax; ask your CA or the State's commercial taxes department what applies to you.

Three details the table hides

1. Standing in the profession. Karnataka's entry for self-employed health care professionals applies "with a standing in profession for more than 2 years", and Telangana's medical practitioner entry is nil for the first five years. A newly registered doctor opening a clinic may owe nothing on their own enrolment for a while, but the clinic's employer duty starts with the first salary above the threshold.
2. Only one entry per person. Karnataka's Explanation I says that where a person is covered by more than one entry, "tax is payable under any one of such entries". A doctor who owns a nursing home and also practises does not pay twice in Karnataka.
3. Partners. Karnataka's Explanation IV says "No tax shall be levied under this Act on any partner of a firm which is engaged in any profession, trade or calling if the tax is paid by such firm." Other States may treat partners differently.

How does a clinic deduct professional tax from staff salary?

Each month, compare the employee's monthly salary or wages with the State's slab, deduct the amount for that slab from the salary, and pay it to the State with the return the State requires. A worked example for a sample clinic in Maharashtra in tax year 2026-27 (figures are illustrations, not data):

In this example the clinic deducts ₹575 in most months and ₹775 in February. The same staff in Karnataka would see a deduction only for the two employees earning ₹25,000 or more, at ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February. Put the deduction on the salary slip so each employee can see it.

A clinic that employs staff usually has other employer duties too, starting with the Shops and Establishments registration in many States. Our post on the Shops and Establishments licence for clinics sets out which States require it and from how many employees.

When are professional tax payments and returns due?

These are the dates we could read in each State's Act or rules. Where we could not read a date in an official document, we have said so rather than guess.

Maharashtra's dates moved in 2026. The Amendment Rules notified on 28 February 2026 substituted "15th of March" for "31st of March" in rule 11(3)(a), and "15th day" for "last date" in rule 11(3)(c). A clinic that used to file on the last day of the month now files by the 15th.

What to do when you open a clinic

1. Find your State's Act and current schedule on the State commercial taxes or GST department website. Note the entry that covers you as a medical practitioner, and any entry for the clinic as an establishment.
2. Check whether your standing in the profession, or last year's gross income, puts you in a nil slab for now.
3. If you owe tax on your own practice, apply for the certificate of enrolment and pay by the State's annual date.
4. Before the first salary is paid, check each employee's monthly salary against the slab. If any falls in a taxable slab, apply for the certificate of registration as employer within the State's deadline.
5. Deduct from each month's salary, show it on the slip, and pay and file by the State's return date.
6. Each April, review salaries against the slabs again; an increment can move a nurse or a medical officer into a taxable slab.
7. Keep the challans and returns with the clinic's statutory file, next to the Shops and Establishments certificate.

Our list of documents required to open a clinic puts professional tax enrolment alongside the other registrations, and our guide to GST on doctor consultation fees matters here in Karnataka, where a person registered or liable to register under the State GST Act falls under Sl. No. 2 of the professional tax schedule.