GST registration gives your business a GSTIN, a fifteen character number tied to your PAN that lets you charge GST, claim input tax credit and trade without the account freezes that follow an unregistered supplier. Applying is free and entirely online at gst.gov.in. The part that costs you is getting the applicability call and the paperwork right, because a rejected application means starting the clock again.
Who has to register for GST?
Two separate tests decide this, and businesses routinely fail to notice the second one.
The first is turnover. Aggregate turnover above ₹40 lakh in a financial year makes registration compulsory for a supplier of goods, and above ₹20 lakh for a supplier of services. Special category states halve both figures to ₹20 lakh and ₹10 lakh. Aggregate turnover means every supply under the same PAN across India, exempt supplies included, so a business with two branches adds them together.
The second test ignores turnover entirely. These must register from the first rupee:
- Anyone making an interstate supply of goods
- Casual taxable persons and non resident taxable persons
- Businesses liable to pay under reverse charge
- E-commerce operators required to collect tax at source
- Input service distributors
- Agents supplying on behalf of another taxable person
One common misreading is worth naming. Selling through a marketplace no longer forces registration on a purely intra state goods seller who stays under the threshold. Interstate sellers and service providers on marketplaces are a different matter.
Which scheme should you register under?
Most businesses register as a regular taxpayer. The composition scheme is the alternative, and it suits fewer businesses than its headline rate suggests.
| Scheme | Who it fits | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Anyone selling to registered businesses, exporting, or supplying interstate | Monthly or quarterly returns, full compliance load |
| Composition | Small B2C businesses below the composition ceiling with local customers only | No input tax credit, no interstate supply, cannot charge GST on the invoice |
The deciding question is usually who your customer is. If they are a registered business, they want the input credit your invoice carries. A composition dealer cannot give them that, which quietly makes you the more expensive supplier even at a lower price.
What documents does the application need?
The list changes with the constitution of the business, but the shape is constant.
- PAN of the business, and of every partner or director where the entity is not a proprietorship
- Aadhaar of the authorised signatory, since authentication runs against it
- Photograph of the proprietor, partners or directors
- Proof of the principal place of business: an electricity bill, municipal tax receipt or property document, plus a rent agreement and the owner's consent letter where the premises are rented
- Bank account proof, usually a cancelled cheque or the first page of a statement
- Constitution documents: certificate of incorporation, partnership deed or LLP agreement as applicable
- Board resolution or authorisation letter naming the signatory
Premises proof is where most applications stumble. The name on the electricity bill, the name on the rent agreement and the name on the application have to reconcile. A shared desk in a coworking space needs a proper agreement and the operator's consent, not just a receipt.
How the process actually runs
- Part A of REG-01 is filed with PAN, mobile and email, and a temporary reference number is generated.
- Part B is filed with the business details, premises proof and documents against that reference number.
- Aadhaar authentication is completed. This matters: it must be done within fifteen days of submitting Part B or the application reference number is not generated at all.
- The officer either approves the application or issues a query in REG-03 within seven working days.
- A query has to be answered in REG-04 within seven working days of receipt. This is the deadline that sinks applications, because the notice arrives by email and gets missed.
- On approval the certificate is issued in REG-06 and downloaded from the portal.
How long does it take?
Seven working days is the rule where Aadhaar authentication succeeds and nothing is queried. Low risk applicants, identified by the system rather than by anything you do, can be approved in around three working days without an officer reviewing the file.
Two things stretch it. If the portal flags you for biometric Aadhaar authentication, someone has to attend a GST Suvidha Kendra with original documents, and the clock effectively restarts from that appointment. If the file is flagged for physical verification of the premises, the window runs to about thirty days.
What does GST registration cost?
| Cost head | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Government fee for registration | Nil | The portal charges nothing |
| LegalX India professional fee | ₹999 | Applicability check, filing, query handling |
| Digital signature, where required | At actuals | Companies and LLPs sign with DSC |
| Biometric visit, where flagged | Your time | No fee, but it is an appointment in person |
Companies and LLPs need a class 3 digital signature to file, since the application cannot be authenticated by OTP alone for those entity types. Proprietors and partnerships generally authenticate with Aadhaar OTP.
Which office handles your registration?
Every application is assigned to either a state GST officer or a central GST officer, and you do not choose. The allotment is systematic, and it decides who reviews your file, who raises any clarification and who would conduct a physical verification. The GSTIN itself starts with your state code, so a Maharashtra registration begins 27 and a West Bengal one begins 19.
The practical consequence is that your registration is anchored to the state where your principal place of business sits. Open a branch in another state and that branch needs its own registration under the same PAN, not an amendment to the existing one.
What happens after the GSTIN arrives
Registration is the start of a filing calendar, not the end of a task. A regular taxpayer files GSTR-1 for outward supplies and GSTR-3B for the summary and payment, either monthly or quarterly under the QRMP scheme. A nil month still needs a return.
Late filing costs ₹50 a day per return, and ₹20 a day where the return is nil. The caps are gentler than the daily figure suggests, at ₹500 for a nil return and ₹2,000 for turnover up to ₹1.5 crore, but long silences also push a GSTIN towards suspension and eventual cancellation.
The other post registration items worth diarising are the e-way bill threshold for moving goods, which some states set differently for movement inside the state, and e-invoicing once your turnover crosses the notified limit.
Mistakes that cost the most
- Registering voluntarily without needing to, then carrying a permanent filing obligation for a business that was under the threshold
- Missing the seven working day REG-04 window and having the application rejected
- Premises proof where the names do not reconcile, which is the most common reason for a REG-03 query
- Choosing composition while selling to registered businesses who need the input credit
- Treating a second state branch as an amendment rather than a separate registration
Why businesses use LegalX India
We file these every week, so the applicability call comes first and the form second. You get a straight answer on whether you need to register at all, the scheme comparison run against your own margins, the application filed and tracked, and any officer query answered inside its window. The fee is ₹999 and the government charges nothing for the registration itself.
If your business is in Kolkata, the GST registration page for Kolkata covers the state layer as well, including West Bengal profession tax and which directorate holds your file.
Call +91 96356 85435 or request a callback and someone speaks with you within 30 minutes.