Statutory Compliance Calendar India: Every Payroll Deadline by Month, Quarter and State

At a glance

Monthly deadlines

Salaries come first. Under the Code on Wages, monthly wages are paid before the seventh day of the following month ends. As your Employer of Record, Versatile Club runs that payroll on its own Indian company. The monthly payroll process shows the run from inputs to proof.

Tax deducted from salaries is deposited within seven days of the month's end, with March as the exception at 30 April. That comes from rule 218 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026. The EOR deducts TDS and deposits it by the 7th of each month, then sends you the deposit receipt.

Provident Fund contributions, and the electronic return that goes with them, are due within fifteen days of the close of every month under the EPF Scheme, 2026. The Provident Fund page covers the rate, the wage base and the ceiling.

ESIC contributions follow the same rhythm. ESIC's guidance makes them due within 15 days of the last day of the month for every covered employee. The page on ESIC for employers explains which employees that means.

Quarterly and annual deadlines

Each quarter, the employer files a statement of the tax deducted from salaries. From 1 April 2026 that statement is Form 138, and the Income Tax Department's Form 138 summary sets out the four due dates below.

The annual salary certificate, now Form 130, goes to each employee by 15 June after the tax year. If an employee changed jobs during the year, each employer issues the parts of the certificate for its own period of employment. The Form 130 FAQ adds that a certificate is only valid when downloaded from TRACES.

Statutory bonus runs on the employer's accounting year. The Code on Wages requires it to be paid within eight months of the close of the accounting year, by credit to the employee's bank account. For an employer whose year closes on 31 March, that runs to 30 November.

Event-driven deadlines

Some dates start from an event rather than the calendar. When an employee resigns or is removed, the Code on Wages requires the wages due to be paid within two working days of the exit. That clock runs separately from the monthly payroll date.

Joiners and leavers also reach EPFO through the monthly cycle. The EPF Scheme, 2026 has the employer upload new members and leavers for the preceding month alongside the regular return. So a hire in October appears in the November upload, and an exit does the same. The onboarding schedule shows when PF registration starts for a new hire.

Statutory compliance calendar for India, month by month

The same dates, laid out across a year. Each month's salaries, TDS, EPF and ESIC relate to the month before.

State professional tax dates sit on top of this grid where your employees work. The statutory rates and thresholds reference gives the amounts behind each line.

What the law says

Each date above comes from a specific instrument. Here is what each one requires, in plain English, with the words of the original.

State-level dates and professional tax

State rules add their own deadlines, and they differ from state to state. The two that reach most India payroll teams are the Labour Welfare Fund and professional tax.

Labour Welfare Fund

In Delhi, covered establishments pay Labour Welfare Fund contributions before 15 July and 15 January each year, based on the June and December registers. The notification sets ₹0.75 from each employee and ₹2.25 from the employer every six months. The guide to payroll in Delhi covers the rest of the city's rules.

What is professional tax?

Professional tax is a state tax on employment, deducted from salary by the employer and paid to the state. It follows the employee, not the payroll office. Karnataka's employer FAQ says it "needs to be deposited to the state where employees are working", wherever salary is paid from. Rates, thresholds and dates are set by each state, and some local bodies, like Chennai's, assess it half-yearly.

In salary terms, professional tax is a small fixed deduction on the payslip, sitting beside employee PF and TDS. Versatile Club holds registrations across all 28 states and handles the state-specific professional tax slabs in each one.

How professional tax is calculated on salary

Each state sets slabs by salary, so the calculation is a lookup, not a percentage. Maharashtra's Act charges men nothing on monthly salaries up to ₹7,500 and ₹175 a month up to ₹10,000. Above ₹10,000, it is ₹2,500 a year, collected as ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February.

Chennai works on half-yearly income instead. The corporation's table runs from nil up to ₹21,000 to ₹1,250 for ₹75,001 and above per half-year. The middle bands are ₹180, ₹425, ₹930 and ₹1,025.

Here is a worked example with a round sample salary of ₹1,00,000 a month. In Maharashtra, eleven months at ₹200 plus ₹300 in February gives ₹2,500 a year. In Chennai, half-yearly income of ₹6,00,000 falls in the top band, so ₹1,250 is due twice, again ₹2,500 a year.

Professional tax due dates by state

Other states' dates are left out until a government source confirms them. The page on payroll in Chennai follows Tamil Nadu's calendar in more depth.

How professional tax is paid online

State portals follow the same pattern: register as an employer, file the month's return and pay electronically. In Karnataka, the employer registers with its PAN or TAN, picks the month, files the return and then makes e-payment by net banking, card or UPI. Telangana's guidance accepts a challan, cheque or e-payment with the return.

For employees on Versatile Club's Employer of Record (EOR) service, none of this sits with you. The EOR deducts and pays professional tax under its own registrations, and the monthly status report shows it. The overview of India labour law compliance explains which state rules reach an India team.

How you confirm each deadline was met

A calendar only helps if you can check it against evidence. Each month, Versatile Club sends records you can match to the dates above. Several of them can also be tested in a government system, without relying on the provider.

A controller can file these next to each month's close. The page on India EOR for finance teams shows how the invoice and the proof fit together.

Why India payroll compliance deadlines matter

Missed India payroll compliance deadlines cost money, and the cost grows each month. Tax deducted but deposited late carries interest at 1.5% for every month or part of a month. Late EPF dues carry simple interest at twelve per cent a year.

The harder cost is finding out late. A missed deposit can surface in an audit, a funding round or an employee's tax return. The India employer compliance scorecard lets you test where a setup is exposed.

What goes wrong and what to check

• The TDS deposit slips past the 7th. Interest then runs from the date of deduction to the date of payment, as the interest section above sets out. You would see a receipt dated after the 7th, or after 30 April for March. Ask Versatile Club for the deposit receipt each month and compare its date.
• A PF or ESIC contribution misses the 15th. Late EPF dues carry simple interest at twelve per cent a year. You would see a missing challan confirmation. Ask for the PF and ESI confirmations, then test them on EPFO's TRRN query and ESIC's e-Challan screen.
• The quarterly statement doesn't match the deposits. Form 138 lists the challans behind each quarter's TDS. If a challan on it is not in your receipts, ask which deposit it refers to. Check each employee's Form 168 as well.
• An exit's wages wait for the next payroll. The Code on Wages requires wages due within two working days of the exit, and that clock runs apart from the monthly date. Start it on the day the employee leaves.
• Professional tax follows the wrong state. It is paid to the state where the employee works, not where salary is paid from. Karnataka's date is the 20th and Telangana's is the 10th, so check the state before the date.

Common questions

What is a statutory compliance calendar in India?

It is the list of recurring dates an Indian employer must meet for wages, TDS, PF, ESIC, bonus and state levies. Central law sets most dates, and each state adds its own.

What are the monthly India payroll deadlines?

Salaries and salary TDS by the 7th of the following month, then EPF and ESIC contributions by the 15th. March TDS is due by 30 April.

When are the quarterly TDS statements due?

31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May, for the quarters ending June, September, December and March. The statement is now Form 138.

What replaced Form 16?

From 1 April 2026, the annual salary certificate is Form 130, issued to each employee by 15 June after the tax year.

What happens if TDS is deposited late?

Interest runs at 1.5% a month or part of a month from the date of deduction to the date of payment. Versatile Club deposits TDS by the 7th and sends you the receipt.

What is professional tax?

A state tax on employment that the employer deducts from salary and pays to the state where the employee works. Each state sets its own slabs and due dates.

How do you calculate professional tax on salary?

Find the employee's monthly or half-yearly salary in the state's slab table and read off the amount. It is a fixed amount per slab, not a percentage of pay.

How do you pay professional tax online?

The employer registers on the state's professional tax portal, files the monthly return and pays electronically. For your team on Versatile Club's EOR service, the EOR does this under its own registrations.

When is statutory bonus due?

Within eight months of the close of the employer's accounting year, credited to the employee's bank account. For a year ending 31 March, that means by 30 November.

How do we know each deadline was met?

Versatile Club sends PF and ESI challan confirmations, TDS deposit receipts and a status report on what's filed and what's coming up. Each record maps to a date in this calendar.

Do state deadlines apply to our employees?

They depend on where each employee works. Delhi's welfare fund dates fall in January and July, while professional tax dates vary by state. Versatile Club holds registrations across all 28 states.

Do we file anything ourselves?

No India filings sit with your company for employees on Versatile Club's Employer of Record (EOR) service. The EOR files their PF, ESI, TDS and professional tax under its own registrations. The page on the EOR's Indian entity lists those registrations.

When does a new hire first appear in these deadlines?

PF, ESI and professional tax start on day four of onboarding, and payroll goes live on day five. The new hire's first month then follows this calendar, as set out in the onboarding steps.

Who answers questions about a deadline?

Write to the Versatile Club team through the contact page. The monthly status report shows what's filed and what's due next.

Related

• India labour law compliance: which laws apply to your India team and who meets each one.
• Employer contributions to PF: the monthly EPF deposit and the challan proof.
• ESIC contributions for covered staff: who ESIC covers and what it costs.
• Running India payroll each month: the run behind the monthly deadlines.
• Versatile Club service documentation: every service component, page by page.
• Payroll compliance in India: a wider guide to the filings around these dates.
• Payroll in India, managed end to end: statutory filings as a managed service.
• Versatile Club's EOR pricing: a flat monthly fee, with no setup fee and no exit fee.