The Enrolment Certificate
Chapter Twenty-One
Syllabus topic 1, "Registration of business under The Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Acts, 1975."
Pages 52 to 54 of 80
Who needs it
Section 5(2):
Every person liable to pay tax under this Act (other than a person earning salary or wages, in respect of whom the tax is payable by his employer), shall obtain a certificate of enrollment from the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner.
The bracket is the whole test. An employee does not enrol, because his employer deducts his tax and pays it over under section 4. Everybody else who falls in an entry of Schedule I enrols in his own name.
Section 5(2A) adds one class: a citizen of India employed by a diplomatic or consular office or trade commissioner of a foreign country in the State, who obtains a certificate of enrolment and pays the tax himself, because there is no employer the Act can reach.
Who this means for MU's two forms of business
A proprietor. He is a person engaged in a trade or calling and falls in an entry of Schedule I, so he enrols. If he also has employees liable to the tax, he separately registers for a PTRC.
A partnership firm. The firm does not enrol, because section 3(2) excludes firms from the charge altogether. Each partner enrols, under Schedule I entry 19(a), at Rs. 2,500 per annum.
A limited liability partnership. The LLP itself enrols, having been brought into section 3(2) in 2018, and each partner enrols too under entry 19(b).
| Form | Who holds a PTEC | Who holds a PTRC |
|---|---|---|
| Proprietor | The proprietor | The proprietor, if he has employees liable to the tax |
| Partnership firm | Each partner, and not the firm | The firm, if it has such employees |
| Limited liability partnership | The LLP and each partner | The LLP, if it has such employees |
| Hindu undivided family | Each co-parcener other than a minor, and not the family | The family, if it has such employees |
| Company | The company, and each director under entry 5 | The company |
The row for the partnership firm is the one to learn. A firm of three partners with two employees produces three PTECs and one PTRC, and nothing at all in the firm's own name on the enrolment side.
The time limit
Section 5(3), the same thirty days as for registration: within thirty days of becoming liable to pay tax, or within thirty days of becoming liable at a rate higher or lower than the one in the existing certificate.
The second limb is a real duty. A person whose class changes, and so whose rate changes, applies for a revised certificate of enrolment. The proviso to section 5(3) softens it: where the rate is revised by law, the rate in the existing certificate is deemed revised on the date of the revision, and the holder pays at the revised rate while he waits for the new certificate.
The Enrolment Certificate
The certificate is itself a demand
Section 5(4):
The prescribed authority shall mention in every certificate of enrolment, the amount of tax payable by the holder according to Schedule I and the date by which it shall be paid and such certificate shall serve as a notice of demand for purposes of section 10.
Two consequences.
The enrolled person is never assessed in the ordinary way. The certificate tells him what to pay and by when, and that is the end of it.
And the certificate is a notice of demand, so failure to pay by the date on it attracts the penalty under section 10 without any further notice being needed.
The procedure
The Department publishes it, and it is entirely online through mahagst.gov.in.
- Create a profile. On the portal: Other Act Registration, then New Dealer Registration, then registration under various Acts, entering PAN, mobile number and email.
- The PAN is verified online in real time. Constitution of business and legal name are pulled from the PAN database. If the PAN is wrong the process ends there.
- Activate the profile by the link sent to the email and the one-time password sent to the mobile.
- Receive the user name and password by email, and change the password on first login.
- Log in for e-services, choose Registration, then New Registration, and select the Act as the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975 (PTEC).
- Fill the application.
- Upload the documents. The Department's own note says documents are not mandatory.
- Submit. An acknowledgement is generated at once.
- Auto approval. The registration certificate is generated within a day.
- Download the certificate from the portal: Other Act Registration, RC Download, enter the TIN or PAN, get status, and print.
There is no fee. The Department's own service note says so in terms.
The documents
The Department asks for proof of the place of business and of residence, for which the latest electricity bill is mandatory, and any one of the following:
- PAN or TAN card, or, if the card is not available, the PAN details from the Income Tax Department's own website;
- a registered deed document issued by the appropriate authority;
- address proof of the owner, tenant, or of a rent-free or consent arrangement;
- a photograph;
- bank details;
- Aadhaar card.
PTEC and PTRC side by side
The single table an examiner is most likely to ask for.
| PTEC | PTRC | |
|---|---|---|
| Section | 5(2) | 5(1) |
| Full name | Profession Tax Enrolment Certificate | Profession Tax Registration Certificate |
| Held by | A person liable in his own right | An employer |
| Tax it covers | His own | His employees' |
| Amount | Fixed by the certificate itself from Schedule I, capped at Rs. 2,500 a year | Whatever is deducted, at the entry 1 rates |
| Assessment | None. The certificate is the demand, section 5(4) | Returns under section 6, assessment under section 7 |
| Payment | Annually, by the date on the certificate | With the return |
| A partnership firm | Does not hold one. Each partner does | Holds one, if it has liable employees |
| Penalty for late application | Section 5(3) time limit; interest and penalty on the tax | Rs. 5 for each day of delay, section 5(5) |
The Enrolment Certificate
A worked case
Shirke and Deshpande, a partnership firm in Pune with two partners, hires four workers in June 2027. Three are men earning Rs. 9,000 a month and one is a woman earning Rs. 28,000 a month. The firm is registered under the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act 2017.
PTEC. The firm needs none: section 3(2) excludes firms. Each of the two partners must enrol under entry 19(a) at Rs. 2,500 per annum, within thirty days of becoming liable.
Note 1 to Schedule I then matters. The firm is also registered under the State GST Act, which is entry 20A at Rs. 2,500 per annum, but entry 20A charges the registered person, and the registered person is the firm, which is excluded from the charge by section 3(2). The partners pay under entry 19(a), once each.
PTRC. The firm has employees whose salaries cross the entry 1 thresholds, so it is liable under section 4 and must obtain a certificate of registration under section 5(1) within thirty days.
The deduction.
| Employee | Monthly salary | Entry 1 rate |
|---|---|---|
| Three men | Rs. 9,000 each | Rs. 175 a month each, being above Rs. 7,500 and not above Rs. 10,000 |
| One woman | Rs. 28,000 | Rs. 200 a month except February, Rs. 300 for February, being above Rs. 25,000 |
The firm deducts, pays over, and files the returns. Whether it deducts or not, section 4 makes it liable to pay.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.