West Bengal professional tax slabs explained

Published 26 October 2026. This page states rates from a gazette notification and from the West Bengal profession-tax Act. It is not a deduction instruction. Confirm the printed gazette, or the Directorate of Commercial Taxes at https://comtax.wb.gov.in/, before you deduct.

The Act

The levy is the West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act VI of 1979). The Directorate publishes the Act text at https://comtax.wb.gov.in/Act_Rule_Schedule_Form/PT_Act.pdf. When that PDF was read on 26 October 2026 it contained the Act, including the charge under the Schedule, and it did not contain the rate table. Rates live in the Schedule, which a later notification can replace.

In that Act, salary or wage includes pay, dearness allowance, and all other remuneration received on a regular basis, whether in cash or in kind, and also perquisites and profits in lieu of salary as defined in section 17 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. “On a regular basis” means for a period exceeding 180 days in a year. A person who earns wages on a casual basis, meaning employment not exceeding 180 days in a year, is outside the Act's definition of person. The tax on salary or wages is deducted by the employer from salary before it is paid. The employer remains liable to pay even if the deduction was not made.

The Act says the levy is subject to Article 276 of the Constitution. This page does not restate that article as a rupee figure. It reports the rates the notification prints.

The notification that substitutes the Schedule

Kolkata Gazette, Extraordinary, Part I, 16 September 2026, No. WB(Part-I)/2026/SAR-588. Finance Department (Revenue), Government of West Bengal. Notification No. 1607-F.T., Howrah, 16 September 2026.

The notification says the Act was amended and published in the Kolkata Gazette, Extraordinary, Part I, by notification No. 756-L dated 7 August 2026. It says notification No. 1407-F.T. dated 18 August 2026 had invited objections to a proposed Schedule, that none were received in the prescribed time, and that the Governor was substituting the Schedule under section 3(3). A PDF of gazette notification 1607-F.T. was read for this article on 26 October 2026. The Directorate Act PDF checked the same day still did not carry the new table.

The notification's own note brings serial 1 of Part A (employees) and the whole of Part B into force on 1 October 2026. It brings serials 2 and 3 of Part A, and the whole of Part C, into force from the financial year starting 1 April 2027. Today, 26 October 2026, is after 1 October 2026, so the employee entry and Part B are the parts the note has already commenced. The self-employed and turnover entries, and Part C, are printed below with their later date so they are not used early.

Employees, from 1 October 2026

Part A, serial 1. Class: employees earning monthly salary or wages or remuneration or reward or compensation, and so on. The bands, as lettered in the table (the last two rows are both lettered “d” in the gazette):

• Not exceeding ₹20,000: nil.
• Above ₹20,000 but not exceeding ₹30,000: ₹100 per month.
• Above ₹30,000 but not exceeding ₹50,000: ₹140 per month.
• Above ₹50,000 but not exceeding ₹1,00,000: ₹170 per month.
• Above ₹1,00,000: ₹208 per month.

Test the band against the monthly salary or wage the Act describes, not against a CTC. Twelve times ₹208 is ₹2,496. That multiplication is arithmetic on the printed monthly rate. It is not a separate annual cap stated in the employee row.

Part B, also from 1 October 2026 on the notification's note, is nil for the classes it names: persons already covered by the exemption notifications it cites (including 941-F.T. dated 7 March 1981, for persons with a disability who are not liable to income tax and who furnish the medical certificate the entry describes, and 368-F.T. dated 28 March 2013, for members of the defence forces), and persons on active duty in the Border Security Force as that entry defines active duty. Read the row before you apply a nil.

Later parts, from the financial year starting 1 April 2027

These are in the same notification. They are not the employee deduction for October 2026.

Part A, serial 2, individuals in a profession or calling other than Part B or Part C, on annual gross income of the preceding year: nil up to ₹2,50,000; ₹1,000 a year above that up to ₹5,00,000; ₹2,000 a year above that up to ₹10,00,000; ₹2,500 a year above ₹10,00,000.

Part A, serial 3, persons in a profession, calling, or trade involving supply of goods or services, other than Part B or Part C, on annual gross turnover or gross receipt of the preceding year: nil up to ₹10,00,000; ₹1,000 a year above that up to ₹20,00,000; ₹1,500 a year above that up to ₹40,00,000; ₹2,500 a year above ₹40,00,000.

Part C lists specified trades and callings at ₹2,500 a year regardless of the income or turnover thresholds. The list is long (it runs to serial 25 and includes, among others, companies and banking companies, and hospitals, nursing homes, and diagnostic centres). Use the gazette list, not a summary, before you treat a person as covered.

The notification's notes also say that if more than one entry applies, the higher rate applies, and that a person below the threshold who still wants to be enrolled pays ₹2,500 for the year if covered by Part C and ₹1,000 otherwise. Those notes travel with the parts they attach to. Do not apply a Part C amount in October 2026 on the strength of this page.

An older government page

https://wb.gov.in/acts/act_profession_tax_on_professions.pdf is a Government of West Bengal page. The copy read for this article is labelled “Professional Tax in West Bengal w.e.f 1-April-2013” and prints an older salary table. That label is not 1 October 2026. Do not mix that table with notification 1607-F.T. If you need the historical bands, read that PDF. This article does not restate them, because the current employee schedule is the September 2026 notification.

What HiringBuddy's payroll tool will do

The payroll calculator does not look up West Bengal. Professional tax is included only when you type an annual amount, which it divides by 12. If you have already decided that the gazette rate of ₹208 a month applies, the annual figure you would type is ₹2,496. If you have not decided that, leave the box blank. The in-hand estimate treats professional tax the same way and, separately, estimates income tax under the new regime for FY 2025-26. Profession tax and income tax are different levies.

A salary above ₹1,00,000 a month is in the ₹208 band of this notification only if the amount you tested is the monthly salary or wage the entry describes, the person is an employee covered by serial 1, and no exemption in Part B applies. This page cannot see a payslip.