A complete understanding of Goods and Service Tax (GST) Registration

Below we are discussing the various features of GST registration.

Various kinds of registrations:

There are many sections in the GST Act which require a taxable person to get the Goods and Service Tax (GST) registration. The sections are as below;

Registration under section 22 of the GST Act which is turnover based registration.
Registration under section 24 of the GST Act in which certain situations are mentioned. If those situations are satisfactory then taking GST registration is mandatory irrespective of turnover.
Registration under section 25 of the GST Act in which GST registration is taken on voluntary basis.
Registration under section 27 of the GST Act which requires a Non Resident and Casual Taxable Person to get the GST registration.

GST registration under section 22 of the GST Act

This section requires GST registration mandatory if aggregate turnover of a person is above Rs. 20 lakh. For special category states, this turnover limit is Rs. 10 lakh. Special categories are as follows:

State of Arunachal Pradesh
State of Assam
State of Jammu & Kashmir
State of Manipur
State of Meghalaya
State of Mizoram
State of Nagaland
State of Sikkim
State of Tripura
State of Himachal Pradesh
State of Uttarakhand

A few important features of section 22 in relation to GST registration are as follows:

If a person was registered under old law such as service tax, excise, VAT etc. then taking GST registration is mandatory in view of section 22 of the GST Act.
If a person who is registered in GST and sells his business as going concern to any other person then the person who is buying business of a registered person is liable to get GST registration in view of section 22 of the GST Act.
GST registration under section 22 of the GST Act is required only if aggregate turnover is above Rs. 20lakh. Aggregate turnover includes the following:
- All taxable supplies made by a person
- All exempt supplies made by a person
- Supplies of export made by a person
- Interstate supplies by whose PAN are the same.
If a person is exclusively engaged in selling goods then the limit for GST registration will be Rs. 40 lakh and for special category states it will be Rs. 20 lakh.

GST registration under section 24 of the GST Act

Section 24 of the GST Act requires a person to get compulsory registration irrespective of their turnover in certain circumstances. The circumstances are discussed below:

Those paying tax under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM). Persons are specified through notification who are required to pay tax under Reverse Charge Mechanism.
Person supplying online information and database access and 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. However, in the case of services, if turnover of business is less than Rs. 20/10 lakh, then they are not required to get registration even if supplying inter-state services.
Casual taxable persons making taxable supplies. In the case of casual taxable people who are supplying handicraft goods in other states, they are only required to get GST registration if their aggregate turnover exceeds Rs. 20 lakhs.
Persons who are required to pay tax under the sub-section (5) of section 9.
Non-resident taxable persons making taxable supplies.
Persons who are required to deduct taxes 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 of goods or services or both, other than supplies specified under sub-section (5) of section 9, through such an electronic commerce operator who is required to collect tax at source under section 52
Every electronic commerce operator. However, if a person is supplying Services through the platform of e-commerce operator then they are only required to get GST registration if their aggregate turnover exceeds Rs. 20/10 lakh.

If a person falls on the above list, then no matter what their aggregate turnover is, they have to get compulsory GST registration.

Registration under section 27 of the GST Act

Section 27 of the GST Act deals with GST registration of a Casual Taxable Person and a Non Resident Person. Casual taxable Person is a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both in the course or furtherance of business, whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a State or a Union territory where he has no fixed place of business. Key features of this section are as follows:

A casual taxable person or a non resident person has to apply at least 5 days before the date of commencement of business.
The validity person of GST registration granted to a casual taxable person and a non resident will be 90 days. This period of 90 days can also be further extended to 90 days if the commissioner is satisfied that it is necessary to do so.
A casual taxable person or a non resident person can start the business only after granting GST registration.
A net tax liability is also required to be paid before the grant of GST registration.

Prerequisite for taking the GST registration

For getting GST registration, a person must have a valid PAN awarded by the Income Tax Department. GST registration is PAN based therefore, GST cannot be applied without a PAN.
In case of a Non Resident Person, passport will be used in place of PAN.
Aadhar authentication is required from 01.04.2020. Therefore, a person should also have an Aadhar number. If a person is not holding the aadhar number then authentication will be done by using the other viable means. If aadhar authentication is failed then GST registration will be granted within 60 working days followed by physical verification of the departmental officers.

Amendments to GST registration

If a person is granted GST registration and there is some change in details of GST registration then that registered has to intimate the change within 15 days from the date of change. If the departmental officer is satisfied with the documents uploaded supporting then he will approve the amendment and if not satisfied then will issue the show cause. If the reply of show cause is satisfactory then the officer will approve the amendment. There are two types of amendments in GST registration. One is an amendment in the core field which requires approval of the officer and another is non-core amendments which do not require approval of the officer and are amended with immediate effect.

Core fields’ amendment includes the following:

Change in details of PAN furnished earlier.
Addition of place of business and/or change in existing business place.
Change in details of partners/directors.

All fields except the above are non core field.

Following persons are exempt from taking GST registration

If a person is supplying only exempted goods or services, then he is not required to take GST registration.
If a person is supplying only agricultural produce, i.e. an agriculturist, is exempted from getting GST registration.
If only the supply of a person on which service/goods recipient is liable to pay tax then the supplier of services/goods is not required to get GST registration.
Casually taxable person who is engaged in supplying handicraft goods are not required to get his registration if his turnover is not exceeding Rs. 20 lakhs.
If a job worker is supplying inter-state services then he is not required to take GST registration if his turnover is not exceeding Rs. 20 lakhs.