Registration

Q 1. What is advantage of taking registration in GST?

Ans. Registration under Goods and Service Tax (GST)
regime will confer following advantages to the business:

Legally recognized as supplier of goods or services.
Proper accounting of taxes paid on the input goods
or services which can be utilized for payment of GST due on
supply of goods or services or both by the business.
Legally authorized to collect tax from his purchasers
and pass on the credit of the taxes paid on the goods or
services supplied to purchasers or recipients.
Getting eligible to avail various other benefits and privileges rendered under the GST laws.

Q 2. Can a person without GST registration claim ITC and collect tax?

Ans. No, a person without GST registration can neither
collect GST from his customers nor can claim any input tax
credit of GST paid by him.

Q 3. What will be the effective date of registration?

Ans. 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 became 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 case of a person taking registration voluntarily while
being within the threshold exemption limit for paying tax,
the effective date of registration shall be the date of order of
registration.

Q 4. Who are the persons liable to take a Registration under the Model GST Law?

Ans. As per Section 22 of the CGST/SGST Act 2017, every
supplier (including his agent) who makes a taxable supply
i.e. supply of goods and / or services which are leviable to
tax under GST law, and his aggregate turn over in a
financial year exceeds the threshold limit of twenty lakh
rupees shall be liable to register himself in the State or the
Union territory of Delhi or Puducherry from where he
makes the taxable supply.

In case of eleven special category states (as mentioned in
Art.279A(4)(g) of the Constitution of India), this threshold
limit for registration liability is ten lakh rupees.

Besides, Section 24 of the Act mentions certain categories of
suppliers, who shall be liable to take registration even if
their aggregate turnover is below the said threshold limit of
20 lakh rupees.

On the other hand, as per Section 23 of the Act, an
agriculturist in respect of supply of his agricultural produce;
as also any person exclusively making supply of non-taxable
or wholly exempted goods and/or services under GST law
will not be liable for registration.

Q 5. What is aggregate turnover?

Ans. As per section 2(6) of the CGST/SGST Act “aggregate
turnover” includes the aggregate value of:

(i) all taxable supplies,

(ii) all exempt supplies,

(iii) exports of goods and/or service, and,

(iv) all inter-state supplies
of a person having the same PAN.

The above shall be computed on all India basis and excludes
taxes charged under the CGST Act, SGST Act, UTGST Act, and
the IGST Act. Aggregate turnover shall include all supplies
made by the Taxable person, whether on his own account or
made on behalf of all his principals.

Aggregate turnover does not include value of supplies on
which tax is levied on reverse charge basis, and value of
inward supplies.

The value of goods after completion of job work is not
includible in the turnover of the job-worker. It will be
treated as supply of goods by the principal and will
accordingly be includible in the turnover of the Principal.

Q 6. Which are the cases in which registration is compulsory?

Ans. As per Section 24 of the CGST/SGST Act, the following
categories of persons shall be required to be registered
compulsorily irrespective of the threshold limit:

i) persons making any inter-State taxable supply;

ii) casual taxable persons;

iii) persons who are required to pay tax under reverse
charge;

iv) electronic commerce operators required to pay tax
under sub-section (5) of section 9;

v) non-resident taxable persons;

vi) persons who are required to deduct tax under
section 51;

vii) persons who supply goods and/or services on behalf
of other registered taxable persons whether as an
agent or otherwise;

viii) Input service distributor (whether or not separately
registered under the Act)

ix) persons who are required to collect tax under section 52;

x) every electronic commerce operator

xi) every person supplying online information and data
base retrieval services from a place outside India to
a person in India, other than a registered person;
and,

xii) such other person or class of persons as may be
notified by the Central Government or a State
Government on the recommendations of the Council.

Q 7. What is the time limit for taking a Registration under GST?

Ans. A person should take a Registration, within thirty days
from the date on which he becomes liable to registration, in
such manner and subject to such conditions as is prescribed
under the Registration Rules. A Casual Taxable person and a
non-resident taxable person should however apply for
registration at least 5 days prior to commencement of
business.

Q 8. If a person is operating in different states, with the same PAN number, whether he can operate with a single Registration?

Ans. No. Every person who is liable to take a Registration
will have to get registered separately for each of the States
where he has a business operation and is liable to pay GST
in terms of Sub-section (1) of Section 22 of the CGST/SGST
Act.

Q 9. Whether a person having multiple business verticals in a state can obtain for different registrations?

Ans. Yes. In terms of the proviso to 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.

Q 10. Is there a provision for a person to get himself voluntarily registered though he may not be liable to pay GST?

Ans. Yes. In terms of Sub-section (3) of Section 25, a person,
though not liable to be registered under Section 22 may get
himself registered voluntarily, and all provisions of this Act,
as are applicable to a registered taxable person, shall apply
to such person.

Q 11. Is possession of a Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for obtaining a Registration?

Ans. 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 non-
resident taxable person who may be granted registration on
the basis of any other document as maybe prescribed.

Q 12. Whether the Department through the proper officer, can suo-moto proceed to register of a Person under this Act?

Ans. Yes. In terms of sub-section (8) of Section 25, where a
person who is liable to be registered under this Act fails to
obtain registration, the proper officer may, without
prejudice to any action which may be taken under this Act,
or under any other law for the time being in force, proceed
to register such person in the manner as is prescribed in the
Registration rules.

Q 13. Whether the proper officer can reject an Application for Registration?

Ans. Yes. In terms of sub-section 10 of section 25 of the
CGST/SGST Act, the proper officer can reject an application
for registration after due verification.

Q 14. Whether the Registration granted to any person is permanent?

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

Q 15. Is it necessary for the UN bodies to get registration under GST?

Ans. Yes. In terms of Section 25(9) of the CGST/SGST Act, all
notified UN bodies, Consulate or Embassy of foreign
countries and any other class of persons so notified would
be required to obtain a unique identification number (UIN)
from the GST portal. The structure of the said ID would be
uniform across the States in conformity with GSTIN
structure and the same will be common for the Centre and
the States. This UIN will be needed for claiming refund of
taxes paid on notified supplies of goods and services
received by them, and for any other purpose as may be
notified.

Q 16. What is the responsibility of the taxable person supplying to UN bodies?

Ans. The taxable supplier supplying to these organizations
is expected to mention the UIN on the invoices and treat
such supplies as supplies to another registered person (B2B)
and the invoices of the same will be uploaded by the
supplier.

Q 17. Is it necessary for the Govt. Organization to get registration?

Ans. 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.

Q 18. Who is a Casual Taxable Person?

Ans. Casual Taxable Person has been defined in Section 2
(20) of the CGST/SGST Act meaning a person who
occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of
goods and/or services in the course or furtherance of
business, whether as principal, or agent or in any other
capacity, in a State or a Union territory where he has no
fixed place of business.

Q 19. Who is a Non-resident Taxable Person?

Ans. In terms of Section 2(77) of the CGST/SGST Act, a non-
resident taxable person means any person who occasionally
undertakes transactions involving supply of goods and/or
services whether as principal or agent or in any other
capacity, but who has no fixed place of business or residence
in India.

Q 20. What is the validity period of the Registration certificate issued to a Casual Taxable Person and non- Resident Taxable person?

Ans. In terms of Section 27(1) read with proviso thereto, the
certificate of registration issued to a “casual taxable
person” or a “non-resident taxable person” shall be valid for
a period specified in the application for registration or
ninety days from the effective date of registration,
whichever is earlier. However, the proper officer, at the
request of the said taxable person, may extend the validity
of the aforesaid period of ninety days by a further period not
exceeding ninety days.

Q 21. Is there any Advance tax to be paid by a Casual Taxable Person and Non-resident Taxable Person at the time of obtaining registration under this Special Category?

Ans. Yes. While a normal taxable person does not have to
make any advance deposit of tax to obtain registration, a
casual taxable person or a non-resident taxable person
shall, at the time of submission of application for
registration is required, in terms of Section 27(2) read with
proviso thereto, make an advance deposit of tax in an
amount equivalent to the estimated tax liability of such
person for the period for which the registration is sought. If
registration is to be extended beyond the initial period of
ninety days, an advance additional amount of tax
equivalent to the estimated tax liability is to be deposited
for the period for which the extension beyond ninety days is
being sought.

Q 22. Whether Amendments to the Registration Certificate is permissible?

Ans. Yes. In terms of Section 28, the proper officer may, on
the basis of such information furnished either by the
registrant or as ascertained by him, approve or reject
amendments in the registration particulars within a period
of 15 common working days from the date of receipt of
application for amendment.

It is to be noted that permission of the proper officer for
making amendments will be required for only certain core
fields of information, whereas for the other fields, the
certificate of registration shall stand amended upon
submission of application in the GST common portal.

Q 23. Whether Cancellation of Registration Certificate is permissible?

Ans. 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. 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 suo moto 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)

Q 24. Whether cancellation of Registration under CGST Act means cancellation under SGST Act also?

Ans. Yes, the cancellation of registration under one Act (say
CGST Act) shall be deemed to be a cancellation of
registration under the other Act (i.e. SGST Act). (Section 29
(4))

Q 25. Can the proper Officer Cancel the Registration on his own?

Ans. Yes, in certain circumstances specified under section
29(2) of the CGST/SGST Act, the proper officer can cancel
the registration on his own. Such circumstances include
contravention of any of the prescribed provisions of the
CGST Act or the rules made there under, not filing return by
a composition dealer for three consecutive tax periods or
non-furnishing of returns by a regular taxpayer for a
continuous period of six months, and not commencing
business within six months from the date of voluntary
registration. However, before cancelling the registration,
the proper officer has to follow the principles of natural
justice. (proviso to Section 29(2)(e))

Q 26. What happens when the registration is obtained by means of willful mis-statement, fraud or suppression of facts?

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

Q 27. Is there an option to take centralized registration for services under GST Law?

Ans. No, the tax paper has to take separate registration in
every state from where he makes taxable supplies.

Q 28. If the taxpayer has different business verticals in one state, will he have to obtain separate registration for each such vertical in the state?

Ans. 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 CGST Act, 2017.

Q 29. Who is an ISD?

Ans. ISD stands for Input Service Distributor and has been
defined under Section 2(61) of the CGST/SGST Act. It is
basically an office meant to receive tax invoices towards
receipt of input services and further distribute the credit to
supplier units (having the same PAN) proportionately.

Q 30. Will ISD be required to be separately registered other than the existing tax payer registration?

Ans. Yes, the ISD registration is for one office of the
taxpayer which will be different from the normal
registration.

Q 31. Can a tax payer have multiple ISDs?

Ans. Yes. Different offices of a tax payer can apply for ISD
registration.

Q 32. What could be the liabilities (in so far as registration is concerned) on transfer of a business?

Ans. The transferee or the successor shall be liable to be
registered with effect from such transfer or succession and
he will have to obtain a fresh registration with effect from
the date of such transfer or succession. (Section 22(3)).

Q 33. Whether all assesses / dealers who are already registered under existing central excise/service tax/ vat laws will have to obtain fresh registration?

Ans. 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 six
months, will be converted into final registration certificate.
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.

Q 34. Whether the job worker will have to be compulsorily registered?

Ans. No, a Job worker is a supplier of services and will be
obliged to take registration only when his turnover crosses
the prescribed threshold of 20/10 Lakhs.

Q 35. Whether the goods will be permitted to be supplied from the place of business of a job worker?

Ans. Yes. But only in cases where the job worker is
registered, or if not, the principal declares the place of
business of the job worker as his additional place of
business.

Q 36. At the time of registration will the assessee have to declare all his places of business?

Ans. Yes. The principal place of business and place of
business have been separately defined under section 2(89) &
2(85) of the CGST/SGST Act respectively. The taxpayer will
have to declare the principal place of business as well as the
details of additional places of business in the registration
form.

Q 37. Is there any system to facilitate smaller dealers or dealers having no IT infrastructure?

Ans. In order to cater to the needs of tax payers who are
not IT savvy, following facilities shall be made available: –

Tax Return Preparer(TRP): A taxable person may prepare
his registration application /returns himself or can
approach the TRP for assistance. TRP will prepare the said
registration document / return in prescribed format on the
basis of the information furnished to him by the taxable
person. The legal responsibility of the correctness of
information contained in the forms prepared by the TRP
will rest with the taxable person only and the TRP shall not
be liable for any errors or incorrect information.

Facilitation Centre (FC): shall be responsible for the
digitization and/or uploading of the forms and documents
including summary sheet duly signed by the Authorized
Signatory and given to it by the taxable person. After
uploading the data on common portal using the ID and
Password of FC, a print-out of acknowledgement will be
taken and signed by the FC and handed over to the taxable
person for his records. The FC will scan and upload the
summary sheet duly signed by the Authorized Signatory.

Q 38. Is there any facility for digital signature in the GSTN registration?

Ans. 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. Only level 2 and level 3 DSC
certificates will be acceptable for signature purpose.

Q 39. What will be the time limit for the decision on the on line registration application?

Ans. 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. If they communicate any deficiency or
discrepancy in the application 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.

Q 40. What will be the time of response by the applicant if any query is raised in the online application?

Ans. 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 of
seven days from the date of receipt of deficiency intimation.

On receipt of additional document or clarification, the
relevant tax authority will respond within seven common
working days from the date of receipt of clarification.

Q 41. What is the process of refusal of registration?

Ans. In case registration is refused, the applicant will be
informed about the reasons for such refusal through a
speaking order. The applicant shall have the right to appeal
against the decision of the Authority. As per sub-section (2)
of section 26 of the CGST Act, any rejection of application
for registration by one authority (i.e. under the CGST Act /
SGST Act) shall be deemed to be a rejection of application
for registration by the other tax authority (i.e. under the
SGST Act / UTGST Act/ CGST Act).

Ans. The applicant shall be informed of the fact of grant or
rejection of his registration application through an e-mail
and SMS by the GST common portal. Jurisdictional details
would be intimated to the applicant at this stage.

Q 43. Can the registration certificate be downloaded from the GSTN portal?

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

Q 44. Can cancellation of registration order be revoked?

Ans. Yes, but only in cases where the initial cancellation
has been done by the proper officer suo moto, and not on
the request of the taxable person or his legal heirs. A person
whose registration has been cancelled suo moto can apply
to the proper officer for revocation of cancellation of
registration within 30 days from the date of communication
of the cancellation order. The proper officer may within a
period of 30 days from the date of receipt of application for
revocation of cancellation or receipt of
information/clarification, either revoke the cancellation or
reject the application for revocation of cancellation of
registration.

Q 45. Does cancellation of registration impose any tax obligations on the person whose registration is so cancelled?

Ans. Yes, as per Section 29(5) of the CGST/SGST Act, every
registered taxable person whose registration is cancelled
shall pay an amount, by way of debit in the electronic
cash/credit ledger, equivalent to the credit of input tax in
respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-
finished or finished goods held in stock or capital goods or
plant and machinery on the day immediately preceding the
date of such cancellation or the output tax payable on such
goods, whichever is higher.

Q 46. What is the difference between casual and non- resident taxable persons?

Ans. Casual and Non-resident taxable persons are
separately defined in the CGST/SGST Act in Sections 2(20)
and 2(77) respectively. Some of the differences are outlined
below:

Casual Taxable Person	Non-resident Taxable Person
Occasional undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services in a state or UT where he has no fixed place of business.	Occasional undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services but has no fixed place of business residence in India.
Has a PAN Number	Do not have a PAN Number; A nonresident person, if having PAN number may take registration as a casual taxable person
Same application form for registration as for normal taxable persons viz GST REG- 01	Separate application form for registration by non-resident taxable person viz GST REG-9
Has to undertake transactions in the course or furtherance of business	Business test absent in the definition
Has to file normal GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 returns	Has to file a separate simplified return in the format GSTR-5
Can claim ITC of all inward supplies	Can get ITC only in respect of import of goods and /or services