Maharashtra GST Dept. Temporarily Disables Professional Tax Registration and Return Filing:

Maharashtra GST Dept. Temporarily Disables Professional Tax Registration and Return Filing The Office of the Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra State, has recently issued a trade circular (No. CST/ACSTHQ-3/PT/25-26/B-315), dated March 13, 2026, to provide temporary relaxation in registration and return filing under the Maharashtra Tax on Professions, Trades, and Callings Act. The Maharashtra GST Department has taken this major action after a recent migration to a new income tax system on the mahagst.gov.in portal, which now handles all compliance facilities like registration, tax payments, and return filing for several laws, including the MVAT Act, CST Act, and the Profession Tax Act. After the implementation of the new system, several taxpayers and professionals flagged technical issues while accessing the portal. These difficulties created problems for the taxpayers to complete registration and return filing under the Profession Tax Act for the month of March 2026.

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Therefore, to resolve this issue, the Maharashtra GST Department has decided to temporarily disable certain online services on the new system in order to reduce portal load. These services include registration and return filing under the Profession Tax Act. However, taxpayers, be aware that the facility for paying professional tax is still available on the portal. As an alternative arrangement, taxpayers can discharge liability using PAN in case the PTEC/PTRC details cannot be fetched. Payments made using a PAN within the statutory time limit will be considered a valid discharge of tax liability. For PTRC taxpayers who already possess a valid registration number, payments can also be made by mentioning the PTRC number in the challan along with the correct return period.

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Taxpayers who are facing problems in completing the registration due to the system's technical issues are allowed to pay tax using their PAN and are allowed to complete registration on or before April 30, 2026. Such payments will be considered valid as if the taxpayer had been registered from the date of the circular. This relaxation is applicable only for the professional tax compliance due in March 2026. PTRC taxpayers must pay tax by March 15, 2026, while PTEC taxpayers must pay by March 31, 2026.