Professional tax in Karnataka catches a wider net than most Bengaluru founders expect. Hold a state GST number and you are inside the Schedule. Incorporate under the Companies Act 2013 and you are inside it. Employ more than five people in a shop or commercial establishment and you are inside on that ground alone. Each is an independent trigger, and the bill is ₹2,500 a year. Salaried staff do not register at all; their employer deducts and pays.
Two certificates then decide what happens. The EC, the certificate of enrolment, answers for your own liability. The RC, the certificate of registration, answers for the tax you take out of salaries. A Bengaluru company with staff needs both; a solo consultant in Jayanagar needs only the EC. For the wider picture see Professional Tax Registration in India explained.
What actually happens if the EC or the RC is late?
Karnataka does not wait for you to notice. Section 5(5) of Karnataka Act 35 of 1976 lets the assessing authority impose ₹1,000 on an employer and ₹500 on any other person for applying late, after a hearing. The larger exposure is section 4. An employer owes the tax for its employees regardless of whether it actually deducted, so a deduction forgotten in April is still company money in March.
There is no warning shot. Section 5(4) makes the enrolment certificate state the amount payable and the date it falls due, and that certificate serves as the notice of demand. If a penalty follows under section 12 it is ten percent of the tax due, on top of the interest under section 11. The authority may impose it, after a reasonable opportunity of making representation.
Who is caught in Bengaluru, and at what salary line?
On payroll the line is exact. Schedule serial number 1 reads salary or wage of ₹25,000 and above for a month. Read those words carefully. Somebody on precisely that salary is liable, and you must deduct. The rates in force took effect on 1 April 2025: ₹200 for each of the eleven months from April to January and March, plus ₹300 for February. Together, ₹2,500 a year, the Article 276 ceiling.
On the enrolment side the Schedule is flat. Apart from serial number 1, no entry carries anything but ₹2,500 a year. Karnataka scrapped its old geography and standing based scale in 2023, so a consultant in Koramangala and one in Hubballi now pay the same. Three entries do most of the work:
- Entry 2 reaches a person registered under the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, or liable to register under it. No turnover figure and no headcount qualifies that entry.
- Entry 6 reaches an employer of an establishment under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 with more than five employees.
- Entry 10 reaches a company registered under the Companies Act 2013 engaged in any profession, trade or calling.
Explanation I stops those stacking. Where more than one entry covers a person, the tax is payable under any one of them.
- An IT services and business process operator in Electronic City meets entries 2 and 10 in month one, then entry 6 on its sixth hire, and still settles one sum.
- A direct to consumer fashion label selling online from Jayanagar usually lands through entry 2 alone, well before it has payroll.
- A partner in a firm that has already paid is spared a second bill, because Explanation IV covers it.
Explanation V surprises people. Every extra place of a person named in the Schedule is treated as its own taxpayer. Keep a Koramangala office plus a floor out in Whitefield and the charge lands twice over. A pure storage godown does not.
Which department in Karnataka ends up with your file?
This is a state levy and the Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department administers it, through e-Prerana at ptax.karnataka.gov.in. No municipal layer sits in the chain. Your city corporation has nothing to do with this tax.
Employer registration has been electronic since 1 April 2022, with PAN, TAN or TCN validated against the CBDT database and the signatory by OTP. A Government Order of 4 February 2025 went further. Applications are accepted online only, physical ones are refused, no fee is payable, and the certificate is granted on successful submission.
The sequence we run:
- We map the Schedule entries that reach you and settle whether the EC, the RC or both are needed.
- We collect PAN, TAN where you deduct, constitution documents and proof of the Bengaluru premises.
- We file Form 2 for enrolment or Form 1 for registration and complete the OTP validation.
- We download Form 4 or Form 3 and hand it over with the payment schedule.
- We set the monthly cycle and the deduction rule for staff crossing the salary line.
Clients ask every week why the certificate carries no seal and no signature. The same Government Order says none is required on it.
Which dates govern the professional tax year?
Section 2(m) fixes the year as the one commencing on 1 April, so every date runs off the financial year. Already enrolled when the year opens? The tax is payable on or before 30 April. Enrolled later, and section 10(2) gives one month from enrolment. That April date has been pushed back by separate order in three of the last four years. One year's extension carries no weight for the next one, so we read the standing circular before anybody waits.
Employers carry a second rhythm. Section 6A(1) wants Form 5-A filed within twenty days of the end of every month, with proof of payment attached. Section 6A(2) is blunt: without that proof the statement is not deemed to have been duly filed. Watch the vocabulary, since the department does. The monthly instrument is a statement; the word return belongs to the annual filing.
One relief arrived on 1 April 2026. Payment of the year's tax by an enrolled person now counts as the return itself, so nothing separate goes in. Employers were left untouched. An RC holder still files monthly and again at year end.
| Obligation | Who it falls on | When it is due |
|---|---|---|
| Apply for the EC or the RC | Anyone becoming liable | Within thirty days of commencing |
| Pay the enrolment tax for the year | Enrolled before the year opens | On or before 30 April |
| Pay after a mid year enrolment | Enrolled during the year | Within one month of enrolment |
| Form 5-A statement with proof of payment | RC holders | Within twenty days of month end |
| Form 5 annual return | RC holders | Within sixty days of the year end |
What does professional tax registration cost in Bengaluru?
Money comes late on this page for a reason. The application is free. The Government Order of 4 February 2025 says no fee is payable on registration or on enrolment, so a quote carrying a government challan is quoting something that does not exist.
Ours starts at ₹999, covering the Schedule mapping, the e-Prerana filing, the OTP validation, the certificate and the payment schedule. The tax sits separately at ₹2,500 a year on enrolment, plus ₹200 a month for each employee over the line and ₹300 for February. Budget for a second premises too, because Explanation V charges it in full.
Where do the EC and the RC sit next to your other Bengaluru filings?
The two are not interchangeable and clients mix them up constantly. Section 5(2) gives the certificate of enrolment to a person liable to pay tax other than a salary earner whose employer pays. Section 5(1) gives the certificate of registration to an employer liable under section 4. Form 2 applies for enrolment and Form 4 is the certificate; Form 1 applies for registration and Form 3 is the certificate. Section 5(3) then sets the clock at thirty days from the date you commence the profession, trade, calling or employment.
Two questions come up in almost every Bengaluru engagement. On directors, the company itself enrols and pays. Whether an individual director needs a separate enrolment depends on the way that director draws money, and on what else they do. We settle that before adding anybody. On exemptions, the first proviso to section 3(2) covers individuals who are senior citizens having attained sixty years, and individuals is load bearing: a company older than that cannot claim it. The relief for charitable hospitals and nursing homes is expressly unavailable in Bengaluru, Ramanagara and Bengaluru Rural District.
Does your professional tax filing follow the current Karnataka position?
We file this the way the department runs it today, not the way an ageing checklist describes it. That means the current payroll figures rather than the older flat rate, the vocabulary the Act and the portal both use, and the 2026 position on returns.
Our Bengaluru office is in Kanaka Nagar, in the Hebbal segment of Bengaluru North City Corporation, though your own address decides your filing and never ours. The CA and CS team handles enrolment, registration, the monthly Form 5-A cycle and the annual return together. Nothing here needs an office visit.