Working in Maharashtra for 14 Days: Do We Need to Pay Professional Tax?

Our office is located in Delhi, and our team has worked in Maharashtra for 14 days. Is PT applicable for us.

If salary is processed from Delhi, then Maharashtra PT terms & conditions are not applicable in the above-mentioned case.

The employee earns in Delhi and was sent on deputation to another state, so PT is payable in Delhi only. However, if there is any contractual job and the establishment has issued Form 5/7/13/14 indicating that they have a branch in Maharashtra, the department will request enrollment and employee PT details. Please be careful in maintaining records.

Maharashtra Professional Tax Applicability

The Maharashtra Professional Tax mandates that every person engaged actively or otherwise in any profession, trade, calling, or employment and falling under one of the classes mentioned in Schedule I of the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings, and Employments Act, 1975, is liable to pay the tax prescribed under the said Schedule (S. 3(2)). So, the liability is there.

Determining the Situs of Employment

As regards PT, the cardinal question is: where is the situs of employment? If it is in the State of Maharashtra, then PT, as per the State, is applicable. Where the salary is drawn or the office is located is not material in deciding the issue.

In the instant case, suppose the Head Office in Delhi deputes some staff to its branch in Mumbai for one month, and the salary is paid by the H.O in Delhi but not by the branch. Then the situs of employment is Mumbai, but wages/salaries were paid by the Delhi Office. The onus of deduction of PT from the wages lies, as I understand, on the office that pays the wages as it is required to remit it to the State government. How will the branch remit the PT, or in other words, which State's PT Act is applicable to such employees?

Regards, B. Saikumar HR & Labour Relations Consultant