GST REGISTRATION

 GST REGISTRATION 

Registration is the most fundamental requirement for the identification of taxpayers to ensure compliance and to obtain a unique registration number for the purpose of collecting tax on behalf of the Government and to avail ITC accrued on the inward supplies.

Benefits of registration - 

Registration will confer the following advantages to a taxpayer:

(a) He is legally recognized as supplier of goods or services.

(b) He is legally authorized to collect taxes from his customers and pass on the credit of the taxes paid on the goods or services supplied to the purchasers/recipients.

(c) He can claim input tax credit of taxes paid and can utilized the same for payment of taxes due on supply of goods or services.

(d) Seamless flow of Input Tax Credit from suppliers to recipients at the national level.

Threshold limit for registration - 

Registration is mandatory when Aggregate Turnover in a Financial year exceeds Rs.20 lakhs (Aggregate Turnover = Value of Taxable of Supplies + Exempt supplies + Inter State supplies + Exports of both Goods and services of persons having the same PAN calculated on all India basis less tax under IGST, CGST, SGST and Cess), except for special Category States, where the threshold limit for aggregate turnover is Rs.10 lakhs.

Exemption from registration - Irrespective of the turnover, the following dealers are exempted from Registration: -

(a) Agriculturist for the purpose of Agriculture.

(b) Supply of exclusively exempted goods

Voluntary Registration -

A person not liable to be registered under the Act, may get himself registered voluntarily to avail ITC and pass on the ITC to the recipient.

Compulsory Registration - The following class of persons shall compulsorily register; -

(a) Casual Taxable person.

(b) Persons making Inter-state Taxable supply.

(c) Persons who are required to pay tax under reverse charge.

(d) Persons who are required to pay tax as e- commerce operators.

(e)Non-resident taxable person.

(f) Persons required to deduct tax as TDS (Government Agencies, Department etc.)

(g) Persons required to collect tax as TCS (electronic commerce operators)

Casual taxable person and a Nonresident taxable person - A Casul taxable person is one who has a registered business in some State in India but wants to effect supplies in some other State in which he is not having any fixed place of business. such person needs to register in the State from where he seeks to supply as a Casual taxable person.

A Non-Resident taxable person is one who is a foreigner and occasionally wants to effect taxable supplies from any State in India, and for that he needs GST registration. GST law prescribes special procedure for registration, as also for extension of the operation period of such Casual or Non-Resident taxable persons.

They have to apply for registration at least five days in advance before making any supply. Also, registration is granted to them, or period of operation is extended only after they make advance deposit of the estimated tax liability.

Registration process 

(a) Application to be filed online within 30 days of becoming liable.

(b) Casual Dealers and non-resident taxable person shall apply at least 5 days prior to the date of commencement of business period of Validation is as specified in the application or 90 days from the effective date of registration whichever is earlier and an advance deposit of tax, an amount equivalent to the estimated tax liability of such person.

(c) All the core fields (name of business, principal place of business and stakeholders' details, etc.) should be filled up.

(d) Scanned documents to be attached.

(e) Digital Signature or e-sign should be done.

(f) Application to be processed within 3 common working days.

(g) If application is successful the Registration Certification will be sent in the PDF format to the e-mail.

(h) All queries to be raised and communicated by the proper officer within 3 common working days sent in PDF format to the e-mail of the applicant.

(I) Applicant should reply to query within 7 days - failure will entail automatic rejection by the system.

(j) On receipt of reply, registration should be granted/rejected within 7 days.

(k) Rejection of Application under CGST will be a deemed rejection under SGST and vice-versa.

(l) Deemed Approval, if no query.

Credit Note 

For issuing credit note, an invoice for a supply should have been issued earlier. A credit note may be issued in the following circumstances.

(a) The taxable value on which the tax collected is more than the actual taxable value

(b) The tax charged is more than what should have been charged

(c) The recipient has returned the goods

Debit Note 

A debit note may be issued in the following circumstances

(a) The taxable value on which the tax collected is less than the actual taxable value.

(b) The tax charged is less than what should have been charged.

Copies of invoices   for supply of goods the invoice should be prepared in triplicate.

(a) The original copy being marked as "ORIGINAL FOR RECIPENT"

(b) The duplicate copy being marked as "

DUPLICATE FOR TRANSPORTER "and

(c) The triplicate copy being marked as "TRIPLICATE FOR SUPPLIER"

Document for Reverse charge Were tax is to be collected on reverse charges basis, the recipient of goods or services has to issue a payment voucher at the time of making payment to the supplier. The dealer is also required to issue tax invoice mentioning that the tax has been collected on reverse charge basis

Contents of an INVOICE - 

A Tax invoice should contain the following details:

(1) Name, address and GSTIN of the supplier

(2) Consecutive serial number containing alphabets or numerals or special characters hyphen (-) or slash (/) for a financial year.

(3) Date of issue 

(4) Name, address and GSTIN or UIN of the recipient, if the recipient is a registered dealer.

(5) Name and address of the recipient if the invoice value is more than Rs. 50000/-

(6) HSN code of goods or accounting code of services

(7) Description of goods or services 

(8) Quantity in case of goods and unit or Unique Quantity code thereof

(9) Total value of supply of goods or services or both

(10) Taxable value of supply of goods or services or both taking into account

(11) Rate of tax separately for each type of tax (central tax, State tax, integrated tax or cess)

(12) Amount of tax charged (central tax, State tax, integrated)

Amendment in Registration:

Except for the changes in some core information in the registration application, a taxable person shall be able to make amendments without requiring any specific approval from the tax authority. In case the Chage is for legal name of the business or additional place of business, the taxable person will apply for amendment within 15 days of the event necessitating the change. The proper officer, then, will approve the amendment within the next 15 days. For other charges like the name of day-to-day functionaries, e-mail IDs, mobile numbers etc. no. approval of the proper officer is required, and the amendment can be affected by the taxable person on his own on the common portal.

Cancellation of registration - Cancellation of registration can be done in the following circumstances

(1) Transfer of business or discontinuation of business or merger

(2) Death of the proprietor

(3) Change in the constitution of business. (Partnership firm may be changed to sole Proprietorship due to death of one of the two partners, leading to Change in (PAN)

(4) Person no longer liable to be registered (Except when he is voluntarily registered)

(5) Registered taxable person has contravened provisions of the Act or Rules

(6) A composition supplier has not furnished returns for 3 consecutive tax period/any other taxable person has not furnished returns for a continues period of 6 months

(7) Non- commencement of business within 6 months from date of registration by a person who has registered voluntarily.

(8) Where registration has been obtained by means of fraud, willful misstatement or suppression of facts, the registration may be cancelled with retrospective effect.

Revocation of cancellation of registration:

Application for revocation should be made within 30 days from the date of service of cancellation order. The proper officer can revoke cancellation/reject application.

Issue of Invoice for supply of goods - When movement of goods is not involved, tax invoice has to be issued before or at the time of removal of the goods.

When movement of goods is not involved, tax invoice has to be issued before or at the time of delivery of goods to the recipient or when the goods are made available to the recipient.

Issue of Invoice for Supply of services

 In case of supply of service, tax invoice has to be issued within 30 days of supply of services. In case of banking, insurance and other finance companies, invoice has to be raised within 45 days of supply of services.

Issue of invoice by an unregistered person Only a registered person can issue a tax invoice. GST law specifically prohibits collection of tax by persons who are not registered under the GST law

Revised Invoice - The words 'Revised invoice' or Supplementary invoice' should be mentioned prominently in such invoices along with reference of the date and invoice number of the original invoice.

Bill of supply

A Bill of supply is a document issued instead of a tax invoice. Bill of supply is issued for the following supplies

(a) Supply of exempted goods or services, or 

(b) Supply made by a composition taxpayer

For all sales of exempted goods made for a value more than Rs. 200/- and for all sales made by a composition supplier for a value more than Rs. 200/-, Bill of supply need not be issued unless the recipient demands for such a bill. At the end of the day, a consolidated Bill of supply should be.                                  

GST

GST REGISTRATION 

Registration is the most fundamental requirement for the identification of taxpayers to ensure compliance and to obtain a unique registration number for the purpose of collecting tax on behalf of the Government and to avail ITC accrued on the inward supplies)

Benefits of registration

Registration will confer the following advantages to a taxpayer.

(a) He is legally recognized as supplier of goods or services 

(b) He is legally authorized to collect taxes from his customers and pass on the credit of the taxes paid on the goods or services supplied to the purchasers/recipients.

(c) He can claim input tax credit of taxes paid and can utilize the same for payment of taxes due on supply of goods or services

(d) Seamless flow of Input Tax Credit from suppliers to recipients at the national level

Compulsory Registration

The following class of persons shall compulsorily register: -

(a) persons making Inter-State Taxable supply.

(b) Casual Taxable person.

(c) Persons who are required to pay tax under reverse charge.

(d) Persons who are required to pay tax as e-commerce operators.

(e) non-residential taxable person.

(f) Persons required to deduct tax as TDS (Government Agencies, Department etc.,)

(g) Persons required to collect tax as TCS (electronic Commerce operator)

Casual taxa

Goods and services tax (GST)

GST is an indirect tax, which is a transaction-based taxation regime, that has been in effect in India since 1 July 2017

Multiple indirect taxes (except customs duty) have been subsumed within GST, and there is one single tax applicable on supply of goods and services. However, there are a few products that continue to be outside the ambit of GST, such as petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), natural gas, alcohol for human consumption, and crude oil.

For smooth GST implementation, the government has formed a GST Council. The Council consists of the State Finance Ministers representing their states. The GST Council provides recommendations to the government on various aspects of GST law, such as rate revisions and amendments in GST rules, etc.

GST regime

GST is a comprehensive 'consumption tax' levied on the supply of all goods and services. Indian GST is a dual model:

In case of intra-state supply of goods and services, GST+SGST/UTGST would become applicable, and in case of inter-state supply of goods and services, integrated GST (IGST). The rate of GST varies from 5% to 28% depending upon the category of goods and services being supplied or procured, the general rate of tax being 18% for the majority of supplies. Additionally, some categories of goods/services, such as vehicles, aerated beverages, etc. notified by the government are subject to compensation cess under GST.

Import of goods and services

The import of goods under the GST regime will be subject to IGST and compensation cess (if applicable), along with basic custom duty (BCD)and social welfare surcharge (up to 10% levied on the BCD), BCD and social welfare surcharge paid at the time of imports are not available as credit under GST; consequently, they will always be a cost to the importer.

Similar to erstwhile service tax laws, on import of service, service recipient would be liable to pay IGST under reverse charge. Also, there are specified categories of goods and services notified by the government on which GST needs to be paid by the recipient under reverse charge such as legal services. Goos Transport Agency services, etc.

CBIC vide Notification Nos.11/2023 and 13/2023 and 13/2023 dated 26 September 2023, has exempted the importers from paying IGST on ocean freight in CIF contracts. This is pursuant to the Supreme Court's pronouncement inf the matter of Moth Minerals.

Zero-rated supplies/export of goods and services

Export of goods and services are zero rated under GST. Exporters can claim refund of input tax credit (ITC) of inputs/input services used in export of goods/services, subject to fulfilment of prescribed conditions. To claim the zero, rate on exports, there is a requirement to file a bond/Letter of Undertaking (LUT) to the jurisdictional tax authorities at the beginning of each financial year. Alternatively, the exporter can pay tax on output and claim refund for the same.

Also, the supplies to an SEZ for authorized operations have been made zero rated under GST. Unlike the erstwhile indirect tax regime, which involved a lot of paperwork to claim export refund claims, a simplified online process to claim refund of exports has been speckled under GST.

(A) Bank account for credit of refund means such bank account of the applicant that is in the name of the applicant and obtained on one's Permanent Account Number (PAN)

(B) Option for filing refund of accumulated ITC by taxpayers making exempt/nil-rated supplies, by selecting an option of not having an LUT number is the refund application (to enable a taxpayer making exempt and/or nil-rated supplies, without LUT, to file a refund application as they don't have a valid LUT number to enter in the refund application the Form RFD-01has now been modified

(C) To facilitate exporters, bunching of refund claims across financial years has now been allowed.

(D) Previously to claim a refund of zero-rated supply of services, there was a requirement to receive remittance in foreign exchange within a stipulated time period. Now this requirement has been extended to zero-rated supply of goods as well.

(E) Refund of accumulated ITC is restricted to the amount appearing in Form GSTR-2A/2B. However, the department has now clarified that the restriction will not impact the refund of ITC availed on the invoices/documents relating to imports, input service Distributor (ISD)invoices, and the inwards supplies liable to reverse charge (RC supplies) merely because the same is not reflecting in Form GSTR-

2A

(F) For export of goods, if unutilized ITC is claimed as refund, it is proposed to be mandated to realize the considerations foreign currency within the timelines prescribed in the Foreign Exchanged Management Act (FEMA) guidelines, if the consideration is not realized within the prescribed time, the refund needs to be remitted back to the government along with interest.

(G) Refund of payment wrongly made through electronic credit ledger is allowed (refund amount would be re-credited to credit ledger).

(1) "goods" means every kind of movable property other than money and securities but includes actionable claim, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before supply or under a contract

(2) "existing law" means any law, notification, order, rule or regulation relating to levy and collection of duty or tax on goods or services or both passed or made before the commencement of this Act by Parliament or any Authority or person having the power to make such law, notification, order, rule or regulation.

(3) "family" means-  (I) the spouse and children of the person, and the parents, grand-parents, brothers and sisters of the person if they are wholly or namely dependent on the said person.

(4) "Fixed establishment" means a place (other than the registered place of business) which is characterized by a sufficient degree of permanence and suitable structure in terms of human and technical resources to supply services, or to receive and use services for its own needs.

(5) "fund" means the consumer welfare fund established under section 57.

(6) "electronic cash ledger" means the electronic cash ledger referred to in sub section (1) of section 49.

(7) "existing law" means any law, notification order, rule or regulation relating to levy and collection of duty or tax on goods or services or both passed or made before the commencement of this Act by parliament or any Authority or person having the power to make such law notification, order, rule or regulation.

GST

 THE CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICES TAX ACT, 2017 NO. OF 2017

An Act to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-state supply of goods or services or both by the Central Government and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

BE it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows: -  

1. Short title, extent and commencement. -(a) This Act may be called the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

(b) It extends to the whole of India (*******)'

(c) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint:

Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision

(2) Definitions - In this Act, unless the context

otherwise requires, (a) " actionable claim" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

(b) " address of delivery" means the address of the recipient of goods or services or both indicated on the tax invoice issued by a registered person for delivery of such goods or services or both.

(c) "address on record" means the address of the recipient as available in the records of the supplier.

(d) " adjudicating authority" means any authority, appointed or authorized to pass order or decision under this Act, but does not include the (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs), the Revisional Authority, the Authority for Advance Ruling the Appellate Tribunal and the Authority referred to in sub-section (2) of section 171)

(e) "agent" means a person, including a factor, broker, commission agent, Arratia, del criadera agent, an auctioneer or any other mercantile agent, by whatever name called who carries on the business of supply or receipt of goods or services or both on behalf of another.

(f) "aggregate turnover" means the aggregate value of all taxable supplies (excluding the value of inward supplies on which tax is payable by a person on reverse charge basis), exports of goods or services or both and inter-state supplies of persons having the same Permanent Account Number, to be computed on all India basis but excludes central tax, State tax, Union territory tax integrated tax and cess.

(g) " agriculturist" means an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family who undertakes cocultivation of land-

(b) by the Laboure of family, or

(c) by servants on wages payable in cash or kind or by hired Laboure under personal supervision or the personal supervision of any member of the family.

(d) "Appellate Authority" means an authority appointed or authorized to hear appeals as referred to in section 107

(1) "Appellate Tribunal" means the Goods and services Tax Appellate Tribunal constituted under section 109

(2) " appointed day" means the date on which the provisions of this Act shall come into force.

(3) "Board" means the (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and customs) constituted the Central Board or Revenue Act 1963

(4) "audit" means the examination of records, returns and other documents maintained or furnished by the registered person under this Act or the rules made thereunder or under any other law for the time being in force to verify the correctness of turnover declared, taxes paid, refund claimed and input tax credit availed, and to assess his compliance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder

"BUSINESS" INCCLUDES - 

(a) any trade, commerce, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a pecuniary benefit.

(b) any activity or transaction in commotion with or incidental or ancillary to sub-clause 

(c) any activity or transaction in the nature of sub-clause (a), whether or not there is volume, frequency, continuity or regularity of such transaction.

(d) supply or acquisition of goods including capital goods and services in connection with commencement or closure of business

(e) provision by a club, association, society, or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members.

(f) admission, for a consideration, of persons to any premises.

(g) services supplied by a person as the holder of an office which has been accepted by him in the course or furtherance of his trade, profession or vocation.

(h) {activities of a race club including by way of totalizator or a license to book maker or activities of a licensed book maker in such club; and}

(1) " capital goods" means goods, the value of which is capitalized in the books of account of the person claiming the input tax credit and which are used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of business.

(2) "causal taxable person" means a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both in the Couse or furtherance of business, whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a state or a Union territory here he has no fixed place of business.

(3) "central tax" means the central goods and services tax levied under section 9.

4. " common working days" in respect of a State or Union territory shall mean such days in succession which are not declared as gazette holidays by the Central Government or the concerned State or Union Territory Government.

5. "commissioner" means the Commissioner of central tax and includes the Principal Commissioner of central tax appointed under section 3 and the commissioner of integrated tax appointed under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act.

6. "composite supply" means a supply made by a taxable person to a recipient consisting of two or more taxable supplies of goods or services or both, or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business, one of which is a principal supply.

7. "cess" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act.

8. "chartered accountant" means a chartered accountant as defined in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949

 

9. "Commissioner in the Board" means the commissioner referred to in section 168.

10. "common portal" means the common goods and services tax electronic portal referred to in section 146.

11. "competent authority" means such authority as may be notified by the Government.

Illustration - Where goods are packed and transported with insurance, the supply of goods, packing material, transport and insurance is a composite supply and supply of goods is a principal supply.

12. "consideration" in relation to the supply of goods or services or both includes-

(a) any payment made or to be made, whether in money or otherwise, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government.

(b) the monetary value of any act or forbearance, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods ro services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government.

provided that a deposit given in respect of the supply of goods or services, or both shall not be considered as payment made for such supply unless the supplier applies such deposit as consideration for the said supply.

 13. "continuous supply of goods" means a supply of goods which is provided, or agreed to be provided, continuously or on recurrent basis, under a contract, whether or not by means of a wire, cable, pipeline or other conduit, and for which the supplier invoices the recipient on a regular or periodic basis and includes supply of such goods as the Government may, subject to such conditions, as it may, by notification, specify;

14."continuous supply of services" means a supply of services which is provided, or agreed to be provided, continuously or on recurrent basis, under a contract, for a period exceeding three months with periodic payment obligations and includes supply of such services as the Government may, subject to such conditions, as it may, by notification, specify.

15. "drawback" in relation to any goods manufactured in India and exported, means the rebate of duty, tax or cess chargeable on any imported inputs or on any domestic inputs or input services used in the manufactured of such goods.

16. "document" includes written or printed record of any sort and electronic record as defined in clause (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000

17. "conveyance" includes a vessel, an aircraft and a vehicle.

18. "cost accountant "means a cost accountant as defined in (Clause (b) of sub-section(I) of section 2 of the Cost and works Accountants Act, 1959

19. "credit note" means a document issued by a registered person under sub-section (1) of section 34. 

20. "debit note" means a document issued by a registered person under sub-section (3) of section 34.