Where and who should apply for GST Registration in India

Narendra Kumar

05 Jan, 2021

After the implementation of GST on 1^st July 2017, there have been many people who have sought registration under the new tax regime. GST in India can be applied online. There is no physical application is required to be filed. And there are no separate state laws relating to online GST registration in India. If any taxpayer is willing to get GST registration in Delhi then his registration procedure will not differ from any other taxpayer applying for GST registration in Maharashtra.

Who Should Apply for GST Registration?

One can apply for GST registration depending upon any of the following reasons;

• Migration: Anyone who was already registered under any of the previous indirect tax laws, were required to migrate to GST. However, if they are not covered under the mandatory requirements for GST they can surrender their GST registration.
• Threshold Based Registration: As per subsection (1) of Section 22 of CGST Act, 2017 certain threshold limits in relation to the aggregate turnover are set. Anybody whose aggregate turnover crosses the set threshold is required to get registered under GST.

• Mandatory Registration: In Section 24 of CGST ACT, 2017^[1] a list of suppliers are listed out who is required to get GST Registration irrespective of their aggregate turnover.
• Voluntary Registration: For anyone who is not covered in any of the above-mentioned categories, have an option to apply on a voluntary basis.

State Specific Registration

As we have discussed earlier that the GST in India is the same all across the nation. But, the question is where actually the taxpayer is required to get registered.

As GST is a destination-based tax i.e. that the tax is collected by the government of the State where the final receiver of goods is located. If the supplier is based in Karnataka and supplies his goods to customers based in Chennai and Madhya Pradesh, will he be required to get a GST registration in Chennai and a separate GST registration in MP as it is a destination-based tax?

The answer is no, irrespective of the final place of consumption the supplier is required to get registered where he has a place of business. In this case, the supplier is required to get GST registration in Karnataka.

If the same supplier has a godown, branch office or any other place of business in any other state, let’s say in Bihar. Then he will be required to get an additional GST registration in Bihar.

Read our article: How to Apply For GST Registration in Mumbai