Professional tax by state · State · FY 2026-27
Professional tax in Karnataka
Professional tax in Karnataka costs up to ₹2,500 a year, banded on monthly wage. Nothing is payable on monthly wage up to ₹24,999. Slab table, statute and source below, verified and dated.
- Costs you at most
- ₹2,500 a year
- Banded on
- Monthly wage
- Nothing payable up to
- ₹24,999
- Last verified
The Karnataka slab table
| Monthly wage | Tax per month | Over a full year |
|---|---|---|
| Up to ₹24,999 | Nil | Nil |
| ₹25,000 and above | ₹200 except ₹300 in February | ₹2,500 |
- ₹25,000 and above — ₹200 × 11 months + ₹300 in February = ₹2,500 a year.
When it is collected
Banded on the monthly wage; the amount is deducted every month.
What is worth knowing about Karnataka
Karnataka Act 33 of 2025 substituted the schedule with 'Rs 200 per month (except for the month of February); Rs 300 for the month of February', taking the year to Rs 2,500 from Rs 2,400. The Rs 25,000 exemption floor came from the 2023 amendment, which set the entry at 'Rs 25,000-00 and above' — so a wage of exactly Rs 25,000 is taxed. Regraded medium→high on 9 August 2026 (T-015): the citation moved off a legislative-research copy of the Bill onto the Commercial Taxes Department's own file of both gazetted Acts, which together carry every figure this entry encodes. Karnataka Act 22 of 2026 was checked and changes only return-filing, not the schedule.
The cap every state is under
Article 276(2), Constitution of India limits professional tax to ₹2,500 a person a year, whatever a state’s own schedule says. Several states are written to land exactly on it — that is why Karnataka and Maharashtra charge a different amount in one month of the year, and why an annual total on this page never exceeds ₹2,500.
Where this comes from
Statute: Karnataka Tax on Profession, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976, as amended by Karnataka Act 14 of 2023 (Rs 25,000 a month and above, w.e.f. 1 April 2023) and by Karnataka Act 33 of 2025 (Rs 200 a month except Rs 300 for February, w.e.f. 1 April 2025)
Read from gst.karnataka.gov.in, last verified . This dataset is re-checked quarterly — the failure mode here is a state joining or leaving the list, not a slab moving, so we search for repeals and re-introductions every cycle. The full method is on our methodology page.
Your actual take-home
Professional tax is one line on a payslip, and rarely the line that decides anything. The one that does is what reaches your account after income tax, EPF and this deduction have all been taken. Our CTC to in-hand calculator, opened on Karnataka, carries the schedule above through automatically, alongside income tax under the Income-tax Act 2025, EPF and gratuity, and shows the working for every line. Put your own CTC in it and read the figure rather than the rate.
One thing worth knowing before you do: professional tax is deductible from salary under s.19 of the Income-tax Act 2025 only under the old regime. Under the new regime it leaves your pay and buys nothing back. Whether that is worth anything depends on the rest of your deductions, so compare both regimes on Karnataka figures — it computes each one and says which pays less tax on the numbers you enter, and nothing beyond that.