GST REGISTRATION

         Any business entity registering under the GST Law implies obtaining a unique number known as the GSTIN/UIN from the tax authorities so that the registered person can collect tax on behalf of the government and thereby avail Input tax credit for the taxes on his inward supplies. According to Section 22 (2), every person who is registered or holds a license or registration under any existing indirect tax law on the day immediately preceding the appointed day i.e. date on which the GST Act came into force, shall be liable to be registered under this Act with effect from the appointed day.

A.Liability for registration (section 22):

 According to Section to 22(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, If the Supplier makes a taxable supply of goods or services from his State or Union territory and  if his aggregate turnover exceeds 20 lakhs rupees in the financial year, he shall be liable to be registered. However, if such a person makes a taxable supply from any of the special categories of states, he shall be liable to be registered if his aggregate turnover exceeds 10 lakhs rupees in the financial year. However, as per Amendment act 2018, the threshold limit has been increased to 20 lakhs rupees for seven specified categories of states.

Aggregate Turnover Criteria’s:

• According to section 2(6) of the CGST ACT, Aggregate turnover means it is the aggregate value of all taxable supplies ,exempt supplies, exports of goods or services.
• At the request of a special category State and on the recommendations of the Council, the Government may enhance the aggregate turnover from ten lakh rupees to such amount, not exceeding twenty lakh rupees and subject to such conditions and limitations
• Aggregate turnover should include all supplies whether made on his own account or behalf of the principal.
• The supply of goods made by a registered job worker after completion of job work shall be treated as the supply of goods by the principal and is  referred to in section 143, and the value of such goods shall not be included in the aggregate turnover of the registered job worker.

Special category states have been mentioned below as per article 279 in the Constitution:

According to No. 10/2019- C.T. dated 7th March,2019, the threshold limit for registration for those engaged in the exclusive supply of goods has been increased to 40 lakh rupees. However, such persons who would not be permitted the threshold limit of 40 lakhs includes such persons engaged in making intra-State supplies in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, any Person who is required to take compulsory registration under section 24,

A summary on the various threshold limits have been given below:- 

B. Personal not liable for Registration(section 23):

According to section23(1) - persons who are not liable for Registration are listed below:

1. Any person engaged exclusively in a supply that is not liable to tax or is wholly exempt from tax under the GST Act
2. An agriculturist, who is supplying produce out of cultivation of land.

According to Section 23 (2)-

 On the recommendations of the Council, Government may specify the category of persons who shall be exempted from obtaining registration under this Act.

 As per No. 5/2017-C.T. dated 19th June 2017, the Government has exempt such persons who are engaged in making supplies of taxable goods wherein the total tax is payable by the recipient under reverse charge mechanism under section 9(3).

C. Compulsory Registration(section 24):

As per sub-section (1) of section 22, the following categories of persons shall be required to be registered under this Act:-

1. Persons making any inter-State taxable supply
2. Casual taxable persons making taxable supply
3. Persons who are required to pay tax under reverse charge,
4. under sub-section (5) of section 9, e-commerce operators are required to pay tax for services of transportation of passengers by Cabs, Accommodation in commercial places.
5. Non-resident taxable persons making taxable supply.
6. Persons who are required to deduct tax i.e. TDS under section 51, whether registered or not separately registered under this Act.
7. Persons who make their taxable supply of goods or services on behalf of other taxable persons whether as an agent.
8. Input Service Distributor whether registered or not separately registered under this Act
9. 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.
10. Every electronic commerce operator who is required to collect TCS u/s 52
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. Such other persons or class of persons as may be notified by the Government on the recommendations of the council.

As per No. 10/2017- C.T. dated. 28th June 2017, Any person making an inter-state taxable supply of service and having an aggregate turnover not exceeding20 Lakhs , 10 lakhs for special category states, shall not be liable to compulsory registration under Section 24.

 As per No. 08/2017- Integrated Tax dated. 14th September 2017, In case of inter-state supply of handicraft goods, where the aggregate turnover of such person does not exceed the threshold limit, they would not be liable to compulsory registration under Section 24. The same would also be applicable in case of a casual taxable person supplying handicraft goods as per N.N. 32/2017- C.T. dated. 15th September 2017.

Procedure for registration (Section 25) :

The procedure for Registration under GST Rule 8 of CGST act requires the applicant to file Form GST REG-01(Part A)

1.  Declaring his PAN (which would be validated by CBDT database) mobile number and e-mail address(verified through OTPs). On success, a TRN will be generated post which Part B needs to be filled and verified. An acknowledgment through GST REG 02 would be generated.
2. As prescribed under Rule 9, after proper examination, if the records are found to be correct, the proper officer may grant the registration within 3 working days from date of application or else issue a notice in GST REG 03.
3. The applicant needs to reply to the notice in FORM GST REG-04, within a period of seven working days from the date of the receipt of such notice. Where the proper officer is satisfied with the clarification, he may approve the grant of registration to the applicant within seven working days from the date of the receipt of such clarification. If no reply is furnished or where the proper officer is not satisfied, he shall, after recording his reasons writing, reject such application and inform the applicant electronically in FORM GST REG-05.
4. If the proper officer fails to take any action within a period of three/seven working days as mentioned above, the application for grant of registration shall be deemed to have been approved.
5. A certificate of registration in FORM GST REG-06 showing the principal and additional (if any) place of business shall be made available to the applicant and a Goods and Services Tax Identification Number shall be assigned.

D.SINGLE REGISTRATION:

According to Section 25 (2), every person registering under this Act shall be permitted a single registration in a State or Union territory. Every person acquiring separate registration would be treated as distinct person.

 As per N.N. 03/2019 – C.T. dated. 29th January 2019, any person having multiple places of business in a State or Union territory may be granted a separate registration for each such place of business in FORM REG-01 subject to the following conditions as prescribed in Rule 11:-

1. If a person has more than one place of business.
2. If a person shall not pay tax under section 10 i.e. composition scheme for any of his place of business if he is paying tax under section 9 for any other place of business.
3. all separately registered places of business of such person shall pay tax under the Act on such supply made to another registered place of business of such person and issue a tax invoice or a bill of supply.

Amendment of registration (Section 28): 

As prescribed under Rule 19, while registering if there is any change in particulars furnished, then the registered person will be required to furnish the details in FORM GST REG-14 within 15 days of time period along with all the relevant documents as it will be required for the approval of the change by the proper officer. Once the officer is satisfied regarding such an amendment, he shall permit an order in FORM REG-15.In case of amendment of the noncore field, the registration certificate would stand amended upon submission of application FORM GST REG-14. 

Cancellation of registration (Section 29):

According to section 29(1), the proper officer either by his own motion or on an application filed by the registered person under Rule 20 in FORM GST REG 16 or by his legal heirs, in case of death of such person, can cancel the registration.

The Cancellation can be done in the following cases:

1. Business discontinued
2. It can be transferred fully for any reason including death of the proprietor
3. Amalgamation or demerger or disposal of the business entity
4. Change in the constitution of the business
5. A taxable person who is no longer liable to be registered under section 22 or section 24.

There are certain cases where cancellation is done by the officer

1. Contravention of rule 21
2. Non-filing of return
3. Non-commencement of business
4. Registration obtained by fraud

According to the section 23, A registered person whose registration is canceled by the proper officers on his own motion may submit an application for revocation of cancellation in the Form GST REG-21 .