Online GST Registration India - GST Eligibility & Required Documents

What is GST?

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax that was rolled out on July 1, 2017. It is levied on the supply of goods and services across the country. It has brought about a uniformity in the indirect tax structure by replacing all the indirect taxes that existed in the pre-GST regime such as VAT, service tax, Excise duty, etc. Simply put, GST has incorporated the concept of "One nation One Tax."

GST Registration Online

Some important facts…

Registration of any business entity under the GST Law implies obtaining a unique number from the concerned tax authorities for the purpose of collecting tax on behalf of the government and to avail Input Tax Credit (ITC) for the taxes paid on his inward supplies.
Without registration, a person can neither collect tax from his customers nor claim any credit of tax paid by him.
Entities with turnover exceeds of Rs.40 lakhs (supply of goods in normal state), Rs.20 lakhs (supply of goods/services in normal state), Rs.20 lakhs (supply of goods in specific state) or Rs. 10 Lakhs (Supply of goods/services specific state) and above would be required to register under GST.
The eligible entities must file GST application within 30 days from the date on which the entity became liable for registration under GST law.
Note Specific state for GST registration is, (Puducherry, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.)

Persons required to register under GST

Annual Turnover Criteria

Entities with turnover exceeds of Rs.40 lakhs (supply of goods in normal state), Rs. 20 lakhs (supply of goods/services in Normal state) Rs.20 lakhs (supply of goods in specific state) or Rs. 10 Lakhs (Supply in specific state) and above would be required to register under GST.

Inter-State Supply

GST registration is mandatory in case of supply of goods or services from one state to another (inter-state). For example, if a business in Delhi supplies goods to a business in Haryana, then GST registration is required.

E-Commerce Operator

Every e-commerce operator and the person who supplies via e-commerce operator is supposed to get registered under GST.

Existing Taxpayers

Entities having service tax or VAT or central excise registration must be registered under GST mandatorily.

Casual Taxable Persons

This category includes the person who occasionally undertakes supply of goods or services having no fixed place of business.

Mandatory registration

Those paying tax under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM)
Person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a person in India, other than a registered taxable person
persons making any inter-State taxable supply
casual taxable persons making taxable supply
person who are required to pay tax under sub-section (5) of section 9
non-resident taxable persons making taxable supply
persons who are required to deduct tax under section 51, whether or not separately registered under this Act
persons who make taxable supply of goods or services or both on behalf of other taxable persons whether as an agent or otherwise
Input Service Distributor, whether or not separately registered under this Act
persons who supply goods or services or both, other than supplies specified under sub-section (5) of section 9, through such electronic commerce operator who is required to collect tax at source under section 52
every electronic commerce operator

Penalty for not registering under GST

According to the section 122(1)(xi) of CGST Act, 2017 any taxable person who fails to register under GST even if he/she is legally bound as per the GST Act needs to pay the following amount of penalty:

As per section 122(2)(a) for any reason, other than the reason of fraud or any wilful misstatement or suppression of facts to evade tax, shall be liable to a penalty of ten thousand rupees or ten per cent. of the tax due from such person, whichever is higher;.
Otherwise as per section 122(2) (b) is 10,000 INR or amount of tax evaded whichever is higher.

Documents required for GST Registration

The main documents for GST registration include

PAN card of business
Proof of business registration or incorporation certificate
Identity and Address proof of Promoters/Director with photographs Photographs and address proof of persons in charge
The business' address proof
Bank account statements/cancelled cheque
Aadhaar card if applicable
Digital Signature
Letter of Authorization/Board Resolution for Authorized Signature

The Registration Process

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Some GST Registration FAQs

1What will be the 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 date of his liability for registration. Where an application for registration has been submitted by the applicant after thirty days from the date of his becoming liable for registration, the effective date of registration shall be the date of grant of registration. In case of suomoto registration, i.e. taking registration voluntarily while being within the threshold exemption limit for paying tax, the effective date of registration shall be the date of the order of registration.

2If a person is operating in different states, with the same PAN number, whether he can operate with a single Registration?

No, however the taxpayer has the option to register such separate business verticals independently in terms of the proviso to Section 25(2) of the CGTST Act, 2017.

3Whether a person having multiple business verticals in a state can obtain for different registrations?

Yes. In terms of Sub-Section (2) of Section 25, a person having multiple business verticals in a State may obtain a separate registration for each business vertical, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed

4Is possession of a Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for obtaining a Registration?

Yes. As per Section 25(6) of the CGST/SGST Act every person shall have a Permanent Account Number issued under the Income Tax Act,1961(43 of 1961) in order to be eligible for grant of registration.
However as per the proviso to the aforesaid section 25(6), a person required to deduct tax under Section 51, may have, in lieu of a PAN, a Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number issued under the said Income Tax Act, in order to be eligible for grant of registration.
Also, as per Section 25(7) PAN is not mandatory for a nonresident taxable person who may be granted registration on the basis of any other document as maybe prescribed.

5Whether the Registration granted to any person is permanent?

Yes, the registration Certificate once granted is permanent unless surrendered, cancelled, suspended or revoked.

6Is it necessary for the Govt. organization to get registration?

A unique identification number (ID) would be given by the respective state tax authorities through GST portal to Government authorities / PSUs not making outwards supplies of GST goods (and thus not liable to obtain GST registration) but are making inter-state purchases.

7Whether Cancellation of Registration Certificate is permissible?

Yes. Any Registration granted under this Act may be cancelled by the Proper Officer, in circumstances mentioned in Section 29 of the CGST/SGST Act, 2017. The proper officer may, either on his own motion or on an application filed, in the prescribed manner, by the registered taxable person or by his legal heirs, in case of death of such person, cancel the registration, in such manner and within such period as may be prescribed. As per the Registration Rules, an order for cancellation is to be issued within 30 days from the date of receipt of reply to SCN (in cases where the cancellation is proposed to be carried out suomoto by the proper officer) or from the date of receipt of application for cancellation (in case where the taxable person/legal heir applies for such cancellation)

8What happens when the registration is obtained by means of wilful mis-statement, fraud or suppression of facts?

In such cases, the registration may be cancelled with retrospective effect by the proper officer. (Section 29 (2) (e))

9Whether all assessees/dealers who are already registered under existing central excise/service tax/ vat laws will have to obtain fresh registration?

No, GSTN shall migrate all such assessees/dealers to the GSTN network and shall issue a provisional registration certificate with GSTIN number on the appointed day, which after due verification by the departmental officers within specified time, will be converted into final registration certificate (GSTIN). For converting the provisional registration to final registration the registrants will be asked to submit all requisite documents and information required for registration in a prescribed period of time. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the provisional GSTIN number. The service tax assesses having centralized registration will have to apply afresh in the respective states wherever they have their businesses.

10Is there any facility for digital signature in the GSTN registration?

Tax payers would have the option to sign the submitted application using valid digital signatures. There will be two options for electronically signing the application or other submissions- by e-signing through Aadhar number, or through DSC i.e. by registering the tax payer’s digital signature certificate with GST portal. However, companies or limited liability partnership entities will have to sign mandatorily through DSC only.

11What will be the time limit for the decision on the online application?

If the information and the uploaded documents are found in order, the State and the Central authorities shall have to respond to the application within three common working days from when application online filed by assesse. If they communicate any deficiency or discrepancy in the application form within such time, then the applicant will have to remove the discrepancy / deficiency within 7 days of such communication. Thereafter, for either approving the application or rejecting it, the State and the Central authorities will have 7 days from the date when the taxable person communicates removal of deficiencies. In case no response is given by the departmental authorities within the said time line, the portal shall automatically generate the registration.

12What will be the time of response by the applicant if any query is raised in the online application?

If during the process of verification, one of the tax authorities raises some query or notices some error, the same shall be communicated to the applicant and to the other tax authority through the GST Common Portal within 3 common working days. The applicant will reply to the query / rectify the error/answer the query within a period informed by the concerned tax authorities (Normally this period would be seven days). On receipt of additional document or clarification, the relevant tax authority will respond within seven common working days.

13Can the registration certificate be downloaded from the GSTN portal?

In case registration is granted, the applicant can download the Registration Certificate from the GST common portal.