GST registration is required to be applied by all persons who are making taxable supply in the state crossing the threshold limit for GST registration, making interstate sales, supply of certain goods, exports, supply to special economic zones, etc.
When a person is liable to apply for GST registration, the dealer should apply within 30 days from the date from which the dealer is liable to register.
Multiple GST registrations in different state
The dealer should register separately in all states from where a taxable supply of goods or services is made.
Thus multiple GST registration is required to be applied from all states, there is no concept of centralized GST registration for all states under the CGST Act.
Example :
Mr.Rajinikanth supplies a taxable supply of goods from the state of Tamilnadu and the state of Karnataka, similarly, supplies exempted goods from the state of Gujarat. He has crossed the threshold limit for GST registration in the financial year.
In this case, separate GST registration is required to be applied in the state of TamiNadu and separate GST registration in the state of Karnataka.
GST registration is not required to be applied in the state of Gujarat as the dealer is supplying only exempted goods from the state of Gujarat.
Multiple GST registrations in the same state
GST registration is issued as a PAN-based number, so the person who is eligible to apply separate PAN is considered a separate person and a GST number will be granted on submission of relevant documents.
Therefore multiple GST registrations in the same state will not be approved subject to the following 2 exceptions.
Different Business vertical
Multiple GST registrations can be applied where the nature of the business is different, the additional GST registration applied should be completely different from the existing one for which GST registration is already granted.
This concept of multiple GST registration is called GST registration for different business verticals.
There is no restriction on the application of GST registration with the same business address if the business vertical is different.
Any number of GST registrations can be applied for different business verticals, there is no maximum limit for a number of GST registrations for different business verticals.
Example :
Mr. Rajan is doing business trading in electronic items and he is also planning to start a software development business on the same premises for which GST registration is required, in this case, separate GST registration can be applied for electronic business as well as separate GST registration for software business. As long as the condition of different business verticals is satisfied multiple GST registrations can be applied.
Separate GST registration for branches
As per section 25 of CGST Act 2017, separate GST registration can be applied for all branches in the state, or centralized GST registration can be applied for all branches and head offices in the state.
It is the option given to the taxpayer to choose between centralized GST registration or separate GST registration.
Where separate GST registration is applied for all branches all branches for which separate GST registration is applied are considered as distinct persons, therefore any transfers of transaction in taxable supply is considered as supply under the GST act even if there is no consideration involved.
The concept of consolidated return filing is applicable only for income tax return filing whereas separate GST returns are required to be filed for all GST registration numbers irrespective of the fact that multiple GST is registered in the same PAN.
Important points for multiple GST registration
- Only active GST registrations will be considered for restriction on multiple GST registration.
- Separate GST records are required to be maintained for distinct GST registration numbers.
- In case any returns are not filed for GST registration numbers are canceled by the GST department, and if a new GST registration number is applied then it is considered as multiple GST registration.
- If composition is applied for one GST registration number then all the GST registration numbers mapped to the same PAN will be converted to composition scheme and vice versa.
- The eligibility limit for the composition scheme and other schemes is required to be calculated by adding the turnover of a PAN on an India basis.
- Application of GST registration by the partner in an individual capacity will not be considered as multiple GST registration if the partnership firm also has active GST registration.
- Registration of more than one GST number in the same address is permitted when multiple GST registrations are applied for different legal entities.