Compulsory Registration Under GST: Rules and Process

Registration under GST is a legal requirement for businesses. The CGST Act 2017 specifies minimum turnover criteria for registration (Rs 40 lakhs for goods and Rs 20 lakhs for services). Still, certain specific businesses are required to register under the GST, irrespective of their annual turnover.

Section 24 – Compulsory Registration under GST  

Section 24 of the CGST Act 2017 requires the following persons to register under GST, irrespective of their annual turnover:

• Entities involved in inter-state supply of goods or services (e.g., goods or services sold from an entity located in Maharashtra to its customer located in Delhi)
• Casual Taxable Person (e.g., a person who has a fixed establishment in Rajasthan and wants to participate in a trade fair in Bengaluru; it has to obtain registration as a casual taxable person in the state of Bengaluru)
• Non-resident Person making taxable supply (e.g., a foreign exhibitor selling goods at any Indian exhibition)
• Entities which are liable to pay tax under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM) (e.g. when availing legal services from advocates, a business has to take compulsory registration)
• E-commerce operators (e.g. Amazon, Meesho or Ola, websites which are involved in selling goods and services online)
• Input Service Distributors (e.g. A company's head office distributing input tax credit (ITC) of common expenses to its subsidiary or associate companies)
• Entities involved in online information and database access or retrieval (OIDAR) services from a place outside India to any unregistered person in India (e.g., a US-based company which provides cloud services to entities in India)
• Any entity involved in online money gaming from a place outside India to person in India
• Entities who are required to detect tax under Section 51 of the CGST Act (e.g., payment made by government entities to their suppliers)

Who is Required to Register Compulsorily under GST?

Any person, whether an individual, HUF, partnership or company whose annual turnover in a financial year is more than Rs 40 lakhs in case the person is involved in the sale of goods or Rs 20 lakhs in case of services, is required to obtain registration under GST. (Ref. Section 22 of CGST Act, 2017)

Other than this, certain categories of entities are required to register under GST, irrespective of their annual turnover, as discussed above. (Ref. Section 24 of CGST Act, 2017)

GST Registration Process

After visiting the government portal, gst.gov.in, depending upon the category (for example, regular taxpayer, composition casual taxable person, or input service distributor (ISD)), register itself under GST. 

After providing basic details such as PAN, mobile number, and email ID, a temporary reference number (TRN) will be generated after OTP verification.

Form GST-REG-01 will require various details relating to the business, such as 

• location or place of business, 
• constitution of the business, 
• personal details of the proprietor, partner, or director, 
• bank account, and 
• HSN code of the product involved in the business

After all details are submitted and the application is verified via EVC or DSC (which companies and LLPs require), an acknowledgement reference number (ARN) will be shared to the taxpayer's registered mobile number and email ID. 

Typically, the GST department requires 3-7 business days to process your application and provide a GST number.

Click on the link for a detailed process.

You can also read:
GST Registration Threshold Limits
GST Registration Online
Documents Required For GST Registration
How to change GST registration details of a business?
How to check GST Registration Status & GST Application ARN Status