GST is an Indirect Tax which has replaced many Indirect Taxes in India. ... The Act came into effect on 1st July 2017; Goods & Services Tax Law in India is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that is levied on every value addition.

In simple words, Goods and Service Tax GST is proposed to be a dual levy where the Central Government will levy and collect Central GST (CGST) and the State will levy and collect State GST (SGST) on intra-state supply of goods or services. The Centre will also levy and collect Integrated GST (IGST) on inter-state supply of goods or services. Thus GST is a unifier that is going to integrate various taxes being levied by the Centre and the State at present and provide a platform for forging an economic union of the country.

Features	Central GST – CGST	State GST – SGST	Integrated GST – IGST
Tax Levied By	Central Government on Intra-State supplies of Goods and/or Services	State Government, on Intra-State supplies	Central Government, on Inter-State supplies
Applicability	Supplies inside a state	Supplies inside a state	Interstate supplies and import
Input Tax Credit	Against CGST and IGST	Against SGST and IGST	Against CGST, SGST, and IGST
Tax Revenue Sharing	Central Government	State Government	Shared between State and Central governments
Free Supplies	Applicable	Applicable	Applicable

All businesses involved in buying or selling goods or providing services, or both, should register for GST. But for below-listed persons, GST Registration is compulsory.

• Previous Law Converted Taxpayer – All individuals or companies registered under the Pre-GST tax laws like Service Tax or Excise or VAT, etc
• Turnover for Goods Provider – If your sales or turnover of goods is crossing Rs. 40 lakh in a year then GST Registration is mandatory. For the Special Category States, the limit is Rs. 20 lakh in a year.
• Turnover for Service Provider – If you are a service provider & sales or turnover is crossing Rs. 20 lakh in a year then GST Registration is mandatory. For the Special Category States, the limit is Rs. 10 lakh in a year
• Casual Taxpayer – If you supply goods or services, in events/exhibitions, and not have a permanent place of doing business. In such cases, GST is charged on the basis of an estimated turnover of 90 days. The validity of the Registration is also 90 days.
• Agents of Suppliers or Input Service Distributor (ISD) – All supplier agents and ISD, to earn benefits of Input Tax Credit, need GST Registration
• NRI Taxable Person – If you are an NRI or handling the business of NRI in India.
• Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) – Businesses who need to pay taxes under the RCM also need to be GST registered.
• E-Commerce Portals & Sellers – Every e-commerce portal (such as Amazon or Flipkart) under which multiple vendors are selling their products. Or for all vendors. You need a GST Registration.
• Outside India Online Portal – For suppliers of online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to Indian Residents.
• Transferee – When the business has been transferred.
• Inter-State Operations – Persons making an inter-state supply. Whatever the turnover.
• Brands – Aggregator who supplies service under his Brand or Trade Name.
• Other Taxation – Persons who are required to deduct tax u/s 37 (TDS) of the Income Tax Act.
• Voluntary GST Registration – Any entity can obtain GST registration at any-time. Even when the above mandatory conditions don’t apply to them.
• Inter-State Registration – If you are a supplier in more than one state you need GST Registration in all the states that you supply goods or services to.
• Branches – If your business has multiple branches in multiple states, register one particular branch as main office or head office and the remaining branches as additional. (Not applicable if the business has separate verticals as listed in Section 2 (18) of the CGST Act, 2017.)

The Special Category States under GST Act are:

• (a) Arunachal Pradesh,
• (b) Assam,
• (c) Sikkim,
• (d) Meghalaya,
• (e) Tripura,
• (f) Mizoram,
• (g) Manipur,
• (h) Nagaland, and
• (i) Himachal Pradesh.

These states can opt for tax payable at a concessional rate.

• Elimination of Multiple Taxes

One of the benefits of GST is the elimination of multiple indirect taxes that existed earlier. So many taxes have been replaced. Taxes like excise, octroi, sales tax, Service tax, CENVAT, turnover tax etc are not applicable anymore and all those have come under common tax called GST.

• Saving More Money

GST applicability has resulted in the elimination of double charging in the system for a common man. Through this, the price of goods and services has reduced & helping the common man saving more money.

• Ease of business

GST brought the concept of “One Nation One Tax”. That unhealthy competition that existed earlier among the States has benefited businesses wishing to do interstate business.

• Cascading Effect Reduction

From manufacturing to consumption, GST is applicable at all stages. It is providing tax credit benefits at every stage in the chain. In the earlier scenario, at every stage, the margin used to get added and tax was paid on the whole amount. Under GST the businesses are taking benefit of Input Tax Credit and tax is being paid on the amount of value addition only. GST has reduced the cascading effect of tax thereby reducing the cost of the product.

• More Employment

Because GST has reduced the cost of products, the demand, for some – if not all, products have increased. With the increase in demand, to meet the increase in supply, the employment graph has started going up.

• Increase in GDP

Higher the demand, higher will be the production. This results in a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

• Reduction in Tax Evasion

Goods and services tax is a single tax that includes various earlier taxes

and has made the system efficient with fewer chances of corruption and Tax Evasion.

• More Competitive Product

Manufacturing has become more competitive with GST eliminating the cascading effect of the tax, inter-state tax, high logistics cost. Bringing competitive as GST will address the cascading effect of the tax, inter-state tax, high logbenefits to the businessman and consumer.

• Increase in Revenue

Under the GST regime, 17 indirect taxes have been replaced into a single tax. The increase in product demand means a higher tax revenue for state and central government.

For Sole Proprietorship / Individual

• Aadhaar card, PAN card, and a photograph of the sole proprietor
• Details of Bank account- Bank statement or a canceled cheque.

Office address proof:

• Own office – Copy of electricity bill/water bill/landline bill/ property tax receipt/a copy of municipal khata
• Rented office – Rent agreement and NOC (No objection certificate) from the owner.

For Private limited/Public limited/One person company

• Company’s PAN card
• Certificate of Registration
• MOA (Memorandum of Association) /AOA (Articles of Association)
• Aadhar card, PAN card, a photograph of all Directors

Details of Bank- bank statement or a canceled cheque

Proof of Address of Principal place of business and additional place of business:-

Own office – Copy of electricity bill/water bill/landline bill/ a copy of municipal khata/ property tax receipt

Rented office – Rent agreement and NOC (No objection certificate) from the owner.

Appointment Proof of authorized signatory- letter of authorization

For Society or Trust or Club

• Pan Card of society/Club/Trust
• Certificate of Registration
• PAN Card and Photo of Promotor/ Partners

Details of Bank- a copy of canceled cheque or bank statement

Proof of Address of registered office :

o Own office – Copy of electricity bill/water bill/landline bill/ a copy of municipal khata/ property tax receipt

o Rented office – Rent agreement and NOC (No objection certificate) from the owner.

Appointment Proof of authorized signatory- letter of authorization

For Partnership deed/LLP Agreement

Aadhaar card, PAN card, Photograph of all partners.

Details of Bank such as a copy of canceled cheque or bank statement

Proof of address of Principal place of business and additional place of business :

Own office – Copy of electricity bill/water bill/landline bill/ a copy of municipal Khata/property tax receipt

Rented office – Rent agreement and NOC (No objection certificate) from the owner.

In case of LLP- Registration Certificate of the LLP, Copy of board resolution
Appointment Proof of authorized signatory- letter of authorization

For HUF

• A copy of PAN card of HUF
• Aadhar card of Karta
• Photograph
• Proof of Address of Principal place of business and additional place of business:

o Own office – Copy of electricity bill/water bill/landline bill/ a copy of municipal khata/ property tax receipt

o Rented office – Rent agreement and NOC (No objection certificate) from the owner.

Details of Bank- bank statement or a copy of a canceled cheque