Jharkhand Professional Tax

Individuals who have joined a job or started a new business in Jharkhand must know about professional tax payments. A professional tax is a State Government tax imposed on a person or body earning an income by way of employment, profession, calling, or trade. The State Municipal Corporations collect the professional tax through predetermined slab rates. Moreover, the paid tax can be claimed as a deduction from the salary under Section 16 of the Income Tax Act. Different states cover different rates and methods of collection for professional tax. In this article, we look at the details of Jharkhand professional tax and its e-payment procedure. To know more about Professional Tax Registration and Compliance, Click here.

Law Governing the Jharkhand Professional Tax

The Jharkhand Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings, and Employments Act, 2011 governs the levy of tax that extends to the whole state of Jharkhand.

Who should pay?

Every person who has engaged in any employment, profession, trades, callings, or transacts business for a minimum of 120 days in a year is liable to pay the levied tax. The collected tax is used for the benefit of the scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, and weaker sections of the State. The liable persons to pay Profession Tax under the act are divided into two categories.

Employer

The employer (Public and Private Sectors, Government) is liable to deduct the Profession Tax from the salaries or wages of the salaried persons and wage earners and deposit the same with the State Government. The employer on behalf of all employees should pay the tax within fifteen days from the end of the quarter. If the employer is an officer of the State Government or the Central Government or the respective Government undertakings, or Public Limited companies, the tax should be deposited in the specified format.

Employee / Individuals

The person or the employee himself indulged in any employment, profession, calling and trade is responsible for paying the tax from the salary or wages. Salary and wages under the Jharkhand Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979 are described below. Salary and wages include the following.

Pay, Dearness Allowance, and any other amount paid as allowance.
Remunerations are received in cash or any other kind on regular basis.
Honorarium, perquisites, and profit in lieu of salary
Leave encashment amount
Leave concessional pay and subsistence allowance.

Salary and wage do not include the following.

Medical reimbursement
Reimbursement of conveyance charges, traveling allowance
Salary paid to apprentice under Apprentices Act, stipend paid to the trainee
Statutory bonus, gratuity, and ex-gratia payment.
Pension granted to an employee is not considered a salary. Therefore, a pensioner is not liable to pay Professional Tax on their pension.

Jharkhand Professional Tax Slabs

Every person who falls under any of the classes of the assessee should pay the tax rate against it mentioned in Schedule 3 under the Jharkhand Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2011. Schedule 3 is presented below in the form of a table.

Entry No.	Class of Assessee		Rate of Tax
1	Salary and wage earners, such persons whose annual salaries or wages:
	(i) Up to Rs. 3,00,000/-		Nil
	(ii) Range from Rs. 3,00,001/- to Rs. 5,00,000/-		1200/- PA
	(iii) Range from Rs. 5,00,001/- to Rs. 8,00,000/-		1800/- PA
	(iv) Range from Rs. 8,00,001/- to Rs. 10,00,000/-		2100/- PA
	(v) Above 10,00,000/-		2,500/- PA
2	Legal practitioners, Technical and Professional Consultants those mentioned in the schedule and whose standing in the profession is as follows.
	(i) Up to three years			Nil
	(ii) Three to seven years			1,000/- PA
	(iii) Above 7 years			2500/-PA
3	(i) Chief Agents, Principal Agents, Special Agents, Insurance Agents, and Surveyors or loss assessors registered or licensed under the Insurance Act, 1938 (Central Act IV of 1938) whose annual income is not less than Rs. 40,000/-			2,500/- PA
	(ii) Pigmy Agents or UTI agents whose annual income is not less than Rs. 20,000/-			300/- PA
	(iii) Postal agents under the National Savings Scheme or Chief agents, principal agents, special agents whose annual income is not less than Rs. 40,000/-			2,500/- PA
4	Directors (other than those nominated by the Government) of Companies Registered under the Companies Act, of 1956.	2,500/- PA
5	Dealers registered or liable to be registered under Jharkhand VAT Act, 2005 whose total turnover in any year ranges:-
	(a) Upto Rs.5,00,000/-	Nil
	(b) from Rs.5,00,001/- to Rs.10,00,000/-	1,000/- PA
	(c) from Rs.10,00,001/- to Rs.25,00,000/-	1,500/- PA
	(d) from Rs.25,00,001/- to Rs.40,00,000/-	2,000/- PA
	(e) above Rs.40,00,000/-	2,500/- PA
6	Dealers not registered or not liable to be registered under Jharkhand VAT Act, 2005 whose total turnover in any year ranges:-
	(a) Upto Rs.3,00,000/-	Nil
	(b) from Rs.3,00,001/- to Rs.10,00,000/-	1,000/- PA
	(c) from Rs.10,00,001/- to Rs.25,00,000/-	1,500/- PA
	(d) from Rs.25,00,001/- to Rs.40,00,000/-	2,000/- PA
	(e) above Rs.40,00,000/-	2,500/- PA
7	Occupiers of factories as defined under the Factories Act, of 1948	1,000/- PA
8	Employers of establishments as defined under the Shops and Establishments Act, such employers of establishments who are not dealers
	(i) Where there are no employees	Nil
	(ii) Where not more than 5 Employees are employed	500/- PA
	(iii) Where more than 5, but not more than 10 employees are employed.	1,000/- PA
	(iv) Where there are more than 10 employees but not more than 20 are employed	2,000/- PA
	(v) Where more than 20 employees are employed	2,500/- PA
9	(a) Owners or lessees of petrol/diesel filling stations and service stations, garages, and workshops of automobiles.	2,500/- PA
	(b) Owners or lessees of Rice Mills, Oil Mills, Paper Mills, Dall Mills, Mini Steel Plants, Rerolling Mills, Foundries, Tanneries, Stone Crushers, Bottling Units, Distilleries, Tiles Factories, Biscuit Factories, Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Labs, Printing Presses (With power) Fruit Canning Units.	2,500/- PA
	(c) Owners or lessees of Nursing Home and Hospital other than those run by the State or Central Government	2,500/- PA
	(d) Owners or lessees of Pathological Testing Lab and X-Ray Clinics.	2,500/- PA
	(e) Owners or lessees of Beauty Parlors, Dry Cleaners, and Interior Decorators	2,500/- PA
	(f) Owners or lessees of Oil changes (with power), Oil rotaries (with power) Huller Mills, Cashew Factories, Decorticating Mills, Saw Mills, Cotton Ginning or Pressing Factories, Small Flour Mills, (working on Hire-Basis), Gum manufacturing units, Bakeries, Hosiery manufacturing units, Cement flooring or stone manufacturing units.	1,500/- PA
10	(a) Owners of Residential Hotels or Lodging Houses having not less than 10 rooms	2,500/- PA
	(b) (i) Owners of theatres	2,500/- PA
	(ii) Owners of touring talkies	1,000/- PA
	(iii) Owners of Video parlors	1000/- PA
	(iv) Cable TV operators including signal provider, cable hirer, and their agents.	2,500/- PA
11	Money lenders, licensed under the law relating to money lenders, and financing agencies, for the time being in force in the State (a) those who lend rupees fifteen lakhs and above in a year (b) other than those specified at (a) above	2,500/- PA 1,500/- PA
12	Individuals or institutions conducting Chit Funds	2,500/- PA
13	Co-operative Societies registered under the respective Acts and engaged in any profession, trade, or calling: -
	(i) State-level societies	2,500/- PA
	(ii) Banks including Gramin Banks.	2,500/- PA
	(iii) District-level societies	1,000/- PA
	(iv) Block / Panchayat level societies	500/- PA
	(v) Village Level Societies	100/- PA
14	Banking Companies as defined in the Banking Regulations Act, of 1949	2,500/- PA
15	All Companies Registered under the Companies Act, of 1956 and engaged in a profession, trade, or calling	2,500/- PA
16	Each partner of a firm engaged in any profession, trade, or calling	1,000/- PA
17	Chartered Accountants where the standing in profession is: - (i) Not less than 2 years, but less than 5 years (ii) Not less than five years	1,000/- PA 2,500/- PA
18	Medical practitioners including Medical Consultants (Other than Practitioners of Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Unani systems of Medicines) Dentists, Radiologists, Pathologists, and persons engaged in other similar professions or callings of a Paramedical nature,-
	(i) less than 2 years	Nil
	(ii) after two years	2,500/- PA
19	Engineers, RCC Consultants, Architects, and Management Consultants.
	(i) less than two years	Nil
	(ii) after two years	2,5 00/- PA
20	Journalists	600/- PA
21	Advertising Firms/Agencies	2,500/- PA
22	Educational Institutions and Tutorial Colleges or Institutes other than those owned by the State or Central Government
	i) Tutorials running classes up to 7th standard	1,500/- PA
	ii) Tutorials running classes up to 10th standard	2,000/- PA
	iii) Junior colleges and all other Educational Institutions and Tutorials running classes above 10th standard or 10+2	2,500/- PA
23	Property Developers including Land Developers and Building / Flat Developers	2,500/- PA
24	All other persons, other than those mentioned in any of the preceding entries, who are engaged in any profession, trade or calling, or employment	1,000/- PA

Procedure to Pay Professional Tax in Jharkhand

Follow the below-mentioned step-by-step guide to paying Professional Tax in Jharkhand,

Visit the official website of the Commercial Tax Department, Jharkhand.
Login to the website with credentials. A new webpage will open. Click on ‘Payment’ from the left dialogue box. Next, click on ‘JPT Payment (From April 2017 Onwards)’.
Provide essential information such as dealer type, address details, payment details, liability details, and purpose details. Enter the captcha code and click on ‘Make Payment’.
Taxpayers of Jharkhand will be redirected to the e-GRAS website. Here, they can view ‘Payment Details’ from which they need to select ‘Online Payment’ and click on ‘Submit’.
Choose a suitable payment gateway and again click on ‘Submit’.
After reviewing the payee details, click on ‘Agree’ and Proceed to Payment, respectively. Next, follow the instructions and complete the payment.

The taxpayer can obtain Odisha Professional Tax registration through IndiaFilings.

Due Date for Professional Tax Payment in Jharkhand

Assessees registered before 31st May of a year must pay P tax in Jharkhand (for each quarter) before 30th June of that year.
Assessees registered after 31st May are liable to pay P tax in Jharkhand (for each quarter) within one month of registration.
Other assessees must pay P tax in Jharkhand within 15 days of the month after the expiry of a quarter.
Assessees neglecting the guideline of the Jharkhand Profession Act may have to pay a hefty penalty, ranging from ₹ 500 to ₹ 5,000. In case of continuation of such offense, assessees have to pay ₹ 10 per day during such period.

Note: Assessee refers to an individual or employer who is liable to pay under this Jharkhand Professional Tax Act.

Exemption from Paying Professional Tax in Jharkhand

Here is a list of individuals, who need not pay Professional tax in Jharkhand,

A senior citizen whose age is above 65 years
Individuals who have a permanent physical disability
Parents or guardians of a person with a physical disability or mental retardation
Individuals working with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Union Ministry of Defence, or Border Security Force

Pay attention to the payment process of professional tax in Jharkhand and due dates so that you can avoid unnecessary expenses, i.e. penalty charges.

Offenses and Penalties

Any assessee who fails to comply with any of the rules of the Act will be punished with a fine amount between five hundred rupees and five thousand rupees. If the offense continues, a fine of ten rupees per day during the period of the continuance of the offense will be levied.