Registration Under GST

Topic Covered in this Article

• Persons required to register compulsorily
• Documents Required for Registration
• Fees for Registration
• Voluntary Registration
• Time Limit for Registration
• Effective Date of Registration
• Requirements for Registration
• Can a person take more than one GSTIN
• Things that an unregistered person is not allowed to

Persons required to register compulsorily

1. Persons in states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand with aggregate Turnover of more than Rs. 10 lakhs.
2. Persons in any other state with aggregate Turnover of more than Rs. 20 lakhs.
3. Persons making any inter-State taxable supply.
4. Casual taxable persons
5. Persons who are required to pay tax under reverse charge
6. Non-resident taxable persons
7. Persons who are required to deduct tax under section 51
8. Persons who supply goods or services on behalf of other registered taxable persons whether as an agent or otherwise
9. Input service distributor
10. Persons who supply goods or services, other than branded services, through electronic commerce operator
11. Every person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a person in India, other than a registered person
12. An aggregator who supplies services under his brand name or his trade name

Other Points:-

• A farmer shall not be considered as a taxable person and shall not be liable to take registration.
• The supplier shall not be liable to registration if his aggregate turnover consists of only goods and services which are not liable to tax or wholly exempt under this Act even if the turnover exceeds the threshold limit of Rs. 10 or Rs. 20 lakhs.
• Persons who are supplying only goods or services on which tax is payable on reverse charge are exempted from taking registration. For eg, In case of Ola, Uber drivers, the tax is collectable and payable by Ola or Uber and not by taxi drivers. Notification No. 5/2017
• A person doing more than one business in a state may obtain a separate registration for each business. However, he is not compulsorily required to do so. Read more on this
• There is no option for centralised registration; registration needs to be done state wise. In other words, if a person operates in more than one states, then such a person is required to register separately in every such state.

Aggregate Turnover is the total value of the following amounts of a person having the same PAN on all India basis

(i) all taxable and non-taxable supplies,
(ii) exempt supplies, and
(iii) exports of goods and service
(iv) supplies made on behalf of a principal (in case of agent)

but it doesn’t include

(i) the value of supplies on which tax is levied on reverse charge basis
(ii) supply of goods by job worker to the principal
(iii) the value of inward supplies
(iv) IGST, CGST, SGST

Therefore if an individual does two different businesses and its total turnover exceeds the threshold limit, then he is compulsorily required to register. Also, a person who is working in two states and his total turnover exceed the threshold limit also required to register in both such States.

The supply of goods, after completion of job-work, by a registered job-worker shall be treated as the supply of goods by the principal and the value of such goods shall not be included in the aggregate turnover of the registered job worker.

You can find registration status and registration date of any registered person with GSTIN using our GSTIN Search and validator.

Documents Required for Registration

By Individual (Sole Proprietor firm)

1) PAN of Proprietor
2) Address proof (Aadhar card or Passport or Driving License etc.)
3) Passport Size Photo
4) Cross bank cheque having a name and account number or passbook front page along with few latest transactions page
5) Address details of the registered address
– Rental Property – Rent/Lease agreement in case of rental properties
– Owned Property – Electricity bill must be in name of the applicant.
– Other Cases – No Objection Certificate/Consent Letter from the owner of the property along with the electricity bill in such cases where the property owned by the applicant family member etc.

By Businesses other than Individual

1) PAN of Business (Partnership firm, LLP, Company etc.)
2) Identity and address proof of the partners/directors/CEO (Aadhar card or Passport or Driving License etc.)
3) Passport Size Photo of the partners/directors/CEO
4) Cross bank cheque of the business or bank statement with few latest transactions page
5) Business registration document (partnership deed or certificate of incorporation for companies or LLP or trust deed etc.)
6) DSC of director/partner (Only in case of Company and LLP)
7) Address details of the registered address
– Rental Property – Rent/Lease agreement in case of rental properties
– Owned Property – Electricity bill must be in name of the applicant.
– Other Cases – No Objection Certificate/Consent Letter from the owner of the property along with the electricity bill in such cases where the property owned by the applicant family member etc.

Fees for Registration

No fee of any kind is payable for registration. It is completely free for all kind of taxpayers.

Voluntary Registration

A person who is not liable to be registered may get himself registered voluntarily. The person who gets himself registered voluntarily shall be liable for payment of tax and all provisions of the Act will apply to him in the same manner as applicable to registered persons.

Time Limit for Registration

A person has to apply for registration within 30 days from the date on which he becomes liable to registration. A person can register voluntarily at any time.

Effective Date of Registration

Where the application for registration has been submitted within thirty days from the date on which the person becomes liable to registration, the effective date of registration shall be the date on which he becomes liable for registration.

Where an application for registration has been submitted by the applicant after thirty days from the date of his becoming liable to registration, the effective date of registration shall be the date of grant of registration. In the case of voluntary registration, while being within the threshold exemption limit for paying tax, the effective date of registration shall be the date of the order of registration.

Requirements for Registration

A person needs to have PAN (Permanent Account Number) to register under Goods and Service Tax. The GST number is linked to the PAN of the taxable person.

Non-Taxable Person may be granted registration on any other document prescribed in this behalf. No separate registration is required under CGST, SGST/UTGST and IGST. Only single registration is made under all the three taxes.

TAN number is sufficient for persons who are required to deduct TDS under Section 51; they are not required compulsorily to have PAN.

A valid passport is required for registration by non-resident persons.

Can a person take more than one GSTIN

A person is required to take separate GSTIN for every state or union territory in which he wants to do business.

A person can also take more than one GSTIN in one state/union territory for multiple business verticals within a State or Union territory. For example – If a person does business of electronics as well as business of clothing then he can take separate registrations for both business but its not compulsory. He can do both businesses with same GSTIN.

More than one GSTIN cannot be obtained in single state/union territory in same business vertical.

Following condition will apply

• Either all firms of a single taxable person must pay tax under composition scheme, or all firms must pay tax under the normal scheme.
• Such separate entities should issue tax invoice and pay tax in respect of supplies made to each other.

Business vertical is defined as

“business vertical” means a distinguishable component of an enterprise that is engaged in the supply of individual goods or services or a group of related goods or services which are subject to risks and returns that are different from those of the other business verticals.

Explanation.––For the purposes of this clause, factors that should be considered in determining whether goods or services are related include–

(a) the nature of the goods or services.
(b) the nature of the production processes.
(c) the type or class of customers for the goods or services.
(d) the methods used to distribute the goods or supply of services.
(e) the nature of the regulatory environment (wherever applicable), including banking, insurance, or public utilities

Things that an unregistered person is not allowed to

A person who is not registered under GST is not allowed to collect GST and is not allowed to take Input Tax Credit (ITC) of GST paid by him. Therefore if an unregistered person purchases goods from a registered dealer and pays GST, then he cannot claim GST as well as cannot pass on the GST to another dealer to which he sells goods/services.

FAQ Regarding GST Registration

Also Read

Registration as Casual Taxable Person