Multi-State Payroll Dashboard
Build Your Multi-State Payroll Dashboard
Enter the number of employees and average gross monthly salary for each state where you operate. Leave blank for states with no employees. The dashboard computes per-state cost, professional tax, statutory burden, and consolidated employer total — plus state-specific compliance flags.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Salary Cost | Prof. Tax | Statutory* | Monthly Total |
|---|
Professional Tax — State-Wise Slabs
Professional Tax is levied by state governments under Article 276 of the Constitution. Maximum annual PT any state can charge is ₹2,500 per Article 276 cap. Currently 21 states + 1 UT levy PT; 14+ states do not. Multi-state employers must register separately in each PT-applicable state where they have employees.
States That Levy Professional Tax
| State | Threshold | Monthly PT | Special Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra | Men: ₹7,500 Women: ₹25,000 | ₹0 to ₹200 (₹300 in Feb) | Gender-specific. Annual cap ₹2,500. |
| Karnataka | ₹25,000 (revised Apr 2025) | ₹200 (₹300 in Feb) | All GST-registered must enroll regardless of headcount. |
| West Bengal | ₹10,000 | ₹110 to ₹200 (4 tiers) | Annual payment by 31 July. 1% interest on delay. |
| Tamil Nadu | ₹21,000 (half-yearly) | Half-yearly slabs | Paid in August + January. Compute on 6-month total. |
| Telangana / AP | ₹15,000 | ₹150 to ₹200 | Standard monthly slabs. |
| Gujarat | ₹12,000 | ₹150 to ₹200 | Sliding monthly slabs. |
| Madhya Pradesh | ₹15,000 | ₹208/mo | Above threshold flat rate. |
| Kerala | Half-yearly | ₹150 to ₹208/mo equiv. | Half-yearly payment in Aug + Feb. |
| Odisha | ₹14,000 | ₹125 to ₹200 | Sliding monthly slabs. |
| Punjab | Income-based | ₹200/mo flat | Levied on most salaried employees. |
States That Do NOT Levy Professional Tax
Professional Tax is not applicable in: Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, and several other northeastern states. Companies headquartered in these states do not deduct PT for local employees but must apply PT for employees working in PT-applicable states.
Watch-out: Delhi NCR spans 3 jurisdictions. Delhi (no PT), Uttar Pradesh — Noida/Greater Noida/Ghaziabad (PT introduced in some districts), Haryana — Gurgaon/Faridabad (no PT). Apply PT based on each employee's actual work location, not the registered office address. Multi-state operators commonly miss this.
State Minimum Wages — 2026 Reference
State minimum wages are notified by state Labour Departments under Section 5 of the Code on Wages 2019. Rates vary by state, industry, and worker skill category. The table below shows indicative monthly minimum wages for unskilled and skilled workers under the Shops & Establishments framework. Verify each state's current notification before payroll application.
| State | Unskilled (₹/mo) | Semi-Skilled (₹/mo) | Skilled (₹/mo) | Highly Skilled (₹/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | ₹19,846 | ₹21,789 | ₹23,757 | ₹26,143 |
| Maharashtra | ₹14,000 | ₹15,500 | ₹16,700 | ₹18,250 |
| Karnataka | ₹13,500 | ₹15,000 | ₹16,000 | ₹18,000 |
| Tamil Nadu | ₹14,000 | ₹15,500 | ₹17,000 | ₹19,000 |
| Telangana | ₹13,500 | ₹15,000 | ₹16,000 | ₹17,500 |
| Gujarat | ₹12,500 | ₹14,000 | ₹15,000 | ₹16,500 |
| Uttar Pradesh | ₹12,000 | ₹13,000 | ₹14,000 | ₹16,000 |
| Haryana | ₹14,000 | ₹15,500 | ₹16,500 | ₹18,750 |
| West Bengal | ₹11,000 | ₹12,500 | ₹13,500 | ₹15,000 |
| Punjab | ₹11,389 | ₹12,500 | ₹13,500 | ₹14,500 |
Indicative rates as of early 2026. State rates revised by various Labour Departments at different schedules — verify each state's current notification before relying on these for payroll.
Multi-state minimum wage tracker. States revise rates twice yearly or annually based on CPI movement. A company operating across Delhi + Karnataka + Maharashtra + Gujarat needs four separate revision-tracking processes. Patron's payroll team — staffed by ICAI-empanelled CAs — maintains automated trackers for client portfolios with email alerts on each notification.
Multi-state operations? Patron handles it end-to-end.
Patron's payroll team manages multi-state PT registrations, minimum wage tracking, MLWF contributions, S&E Act compliance, and consolidated payroll processing across 10+ states. Fixed-fee, audit-ready output.
Labour Welfare Fund (LWF) — State-Specific
Labour Welfare Fund is a state-level statutory contribution under each state's Labour Welfare Fund Act. The fund is used by State Labour Welfare Boards to finance welfare schemes — housing, medical, recreation, education for workers' children. Contributions are typically nominal but missing state-specific LWF is a common multi-state compliance gap.
| State | Employer Share | Employee Share | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra | ₹12 / 6 months | ₹6 / 6 months | Bi-annual (Jun, Dec) |
| Karnataka | ₹40 / year | ₹20 / year | Annual (Jan) |
| Tamil Nadu | ₹20 / year | ₹10 / year | Annual (Jan) |
| Andhra Pradesh / Telangana | ₹30 / year | ₹2 / year | Annual (Jan) |
| Gujarat | ₹6 / 6 months | ₹3 / 6 months | Bi-annual |
| Madhya Pradesh | ₹30 / 6 months | ₹10 / 6 months | Bi-annual |
| Delhi | ₹2.25 / month | ₹0.75 / month | Monthly |
| Punjab | ₹5 / month | ₹5 / month | Monthly |
| Haryana | ₹25 / month | ₹10 / month | Monthly |
| West Bengal | ₹15 / 6 months | ₹3 / 6 months | Bi-annual |
Many states have additional schemes — building & construction welfare cess, contract labour welfare cess, etc. Verify state-specific applicability based on your industry classification.
Setting Up Multi-State Payroll
Recommended Architecture
Modern best practice is centralized payroll with state-aware logic. Use a single payroll software (Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, SAP SuccessFactors) configured with state-specific rule sets. The central team manages compliance while location-specific rules apply automatically based on each employee's work location.
Per-State Compliance Footprint
| Compliance Item | Scope | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| PTRC Registration | Per state (where PT applicable) | One-time + monthly/quarterly returns |
| S&E Act Registration | Per state where office located | One-time + annual renewal |
| EPF Sub-Code | Per location (if separate) | One-time + monthly ECR |
| ESIC Branch Code | Per state with eligible employees | One-time + monthly contributions |
| LWF Registration | Per state (where applicable) | One-time + bi-annual/annual contribution |
| Minimum Wage Tracker | Per state | Monitor revisions (2x yearly typical) |
| State Specific Returns | Per state | Annual / bi-annual |
Top Pitfalls
- Wrong state PT applied — applying registered office state PT to employees working in different states
- Missing PTRC registration when first employee hired in a new state — common during rapid expansion (also impacts CBIC GST place-of-supply assessments)
- Missing Karnataka February ₹300 / Maharashtra March ₹300 — payroll software defaults to ₹200 for all 12 months
- Not applying gender-specific exemption for women in Maharashtra (up to ₹25,000 exempt)
- Outdated minimum wage rates after state notification — typical 6-month lag for unprepared employers
- Missing Tamil Nadu half-yearly logic — TN PT computed on 6-month gross, not monthly
- Missing state LWF contributions — small amounts but missing creates audit findings
- Not deregistering on office closure — keeps liability open until formal closure
Real-world cost. A company operating across 4 states discovered during an early-2026 audit that 2 states had October 2024 rates applied while 2 had October 2025 rates. Total underpayment was ₹4.3 lakh across 28 workers over 6 months — before interest and 10× compensation under Code on Wages Section 56. Multi-state PT or minimum wage drift is the single biggest payroll compliance risk for distributed operations.