GST Migration

The gst migration is the process of migrating from the earlier regime of Excise/VAT/Service taxes to the GST realm, by a taxpayer. Naturally, all manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, importers and exporters, and wholesalers and retailers, who were registered and paying taxes under the earlier regime of taxation, will now to be required to get their respective registration under the GST, within thirty days of their respective liability to do so. Now, without proper and perfect registration under GST, an entity is not entitled to collect tax from its customers nor claim any Input Tax Credits (ITCs) of the taxes paid.

This webpage offers information about the requirement or liability of getting registered under the GST, and the gst migration process in general. The liable taxpayers will have to enroll on the GST Common Portal (www.gst.gov.in), and get registration under their respective appropriate category. The steps of the migration procedure are separately described in the lower section, and now this section is going to give information regarding liability to GST registration in India.

In general, the liability of registration under GST is dependent upon the following two broad criteria --- the Turnover criterion, and the Compulsory Registration criterion. According to the turnover criterion, an entity is mandated to obtain GST registration, whenever its annual turnover gets more than Rs. 20 Lakh (Rs. 2 million). For North-eastern States and some Special Category States of India, this threshold has been kept at Rs. One million. On the other hand, the following categories of suppliers are essentially required to get GST registration, irrespective of the size of their respective annual turnover:

• Inter-State Suppliers
• Casual Taxable Persons
• Non-Resident Taxable Persons
• Composition Taxpayers
• Input Service Distributors (ISDs)
• E-Commerce Operators
• TDS Deductors

Entities the turnover of which is much less than the specified threshold do not require compulsory registrations under GST; however, they may get themselves registered to avail the input tax credits, and other benefits. Organization allotted a Unique Identification Number (UIN), are also not need GST registration. Again, a business/service entity which has its branches in multiple States or Union Territories, is required to get separate State or UT wise registration for each and every branch. And, a business/service entity with many business/service verticals in any State or UT, is required to obtain separate registration for its all verticals within the State or UT [as per the section 2(18) of the CGST Act of 2017].

GST Migration Process

The concerned normal taxpayers with over Rs 2 or One million annual turnover are required to get mandatory registration with the GST Common Portal within thirty days. The Casual Taxable Persons and Non-Resident Taxable Persons require to apply for registration at least five days prior to the commencement of business/service. There are around 30 forms/formats prescribed under GST law for different purposes related with registrations and others.

• Creation of User ID and Password on the GST Common Portal (GSTN)
• Enter Business/Service related Details
• Details of Applicant/Main Executive/Authorized Signatory
• Details related with the Place of Business/Service
• Details of the Goods or/and Services Supplied
• Details of Bank Accounts
• Final Verification

The very first step towards migration to GST starts with getting a provisional ID and password from the CBEC/Commercial Tax Department of the concerned State/UT, which will be used for logging in to the GST Common Portal (www.gst.gov.in), and creating a New User ID & Password on the Portal (GSTN). On enrolment, the applicant taxpayer will be given a Provisional Certificate of GST Registration in Form GST REG-25, containing the GSTIN. The final GST registration will be provided in the Form GST REG-06, after applying for the same online through the Form GST REG-26.