Compulsory registration
- Casual taxable persons making taxable supply:
As per section 24 of CGST Act 2017, a casual taxable person is required to obtain compulsory registration irrespective of the aggregate turnover in the previous year. However exemption has been given to person engaged in the supply of “Handicraft goods”. A casual taxable person making taxable supplies of handicraft goods is exempted from obtaining registration if aggregate turnover to be computed on all India basis not exceeding an amount of 20 Lakhs.
- Casual taxable person meaning: As per sec 2(20) of CGST Act means:
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
- Electronic Commerce Operator Electronic Commerce Operator who is required to collect tax at source under section 52;] [The words ‘required to collect ‘inserted vide CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 w.e.f. 1-2-2019]. Thus, an e commerce operator would require registration only when he is required to collect tax at source under section 52 of CGST Act.
- Persons who are required to pay tax under reverse charge a person who is required to pay tax under reverse charge has to take compulsory registration as he has to take registration to submit tax under reverse charge.
The important point should be taken into consideration that Section 24 overrides sec 22 only so any person who is exclusively in the business under section 23 i.e. any person engaged exclusively in the business of supplying goods or services not liable to tax or wholly exempt from tax then he is not required to get himself registered.
- Non-resident taxable persons making taxable supply:
A non-resident person who is making any kind of taxable supply in the taxable territory then he has to take compulsory registration. As per section 2(77) of CGST Act 2017,”Non-resident taxable person” means any person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both, whether as principal or agent or in any other capacity, but who has no fixed place of business or residence in India;
Following persons and organizations are mandatorily required to undergo GST registration :
- Businesses involved in inter-state supply of goods and services
- Non-resident taxable person
- Casual taxable person
- Taxpayers under the reverse charge mechanism
- Businesses registered under old tax services, such as VAT, excise, and service tax
- Any business engaged in the supply of goods whose turnover in a fiscal year exceeds 40 lakhs for states in the normal category who have opted for the new threshold (20 lakhs for special category states and those in states which have not opted for the new threshold, for example, the state of Telangana)
- Any business engaged in the rendering of services whose turnover in a fiscal year surpasses 20 lakhs in normal category states (10 lakhs for special category states)
- Agents of a supplier
- Input service distributors
- Businesses that supply online information, database access, and/or retrieval services from outside India to a person/business within the country
- E-commerce aggregators
- Businesses that supply through an e-commerce aggregator
- Other individuals and businesses as notified by the central/state govt, on recommendation by the GST Council.
Exemption from Registration
| Supplies | Meaning |
| Nil-rated | Supplies that have 0% tax rate. Example: Salt. |
| Non-GST | Ones that do not come under the purview of GST law include alcohol for human consumption. |
| Zero-rated | Export supplies to SEZ (Special Economic Zone) developers. |
| Exempt | Taxable supplies that do not attract GST. Curd, fruits are among some of the supplies. |
Types of exemption in GST
Absolute: Exemptions without any conditions are an absolute exemption. For example, services by the RBI.
Conditional: Certain conditions are applicable to some exemptions. Services by hotels, clubs, etc., with a statement of accommodation unit less than Rs.1000 per day, fall under a conditional exemption.
Partial: Unregistered persons supplying goods within states (intrastate) to a registered individual can enjoy tax exemption under reverse charge only if the aggregate value of a supply does not exceed Rs.5000 per day.
GST exemption from registration
- Individuals belonging to the threshold exemption limit.
- Exempt suppliers of goods and services.
- A person supplying non-GST goods and services.
- Taxpayers engaging in activities other than the supply of goods or services.
- Ones supplying goods covered under reverse charge.