REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS PROCESSES FOR GST REGISTRATION

 

6.0 New Applicants

 

6.1  The process highlighted in the paragraphs below is applicable for new applicants for registration, both mandatory and voluntary.

 

6.2 New applicant can apply for registration:

 

(1) at the GST Common Portal directly3; or

 

(2) at the GST Common Portal through the Facilitation Center (FC)

 

Multiple applications can be filed at one go where a taxable person seeks registration in more than one State or for more than one business vertical located in a single / multiple State(s).

 

6.3  Following scanned documents are required to be filed along with the application for Registration –

 

Relevant Box No. in the Registration Form

Document required to be uploaded

Reason for requirement

2. Constitution of Business

  • Partnership Deed in case of Partnership Firm ;

  • Registration Certificate in case of other businesses like Society, Trust etc. which are not captured in PAN.

In case of Companies, GSTN would strive for online verification of Company Identification Number (CIN) from MCA21.

 

Constitution of business / applicant as per PAN would be taken except for businesses such as Society, Trust etc. which are not captured in PAN.

Partnership Deed would be required to be submitted in case of Partnership Firms.

11. Details of the Principal Place of business

  • In case of Own premises – any document in support of the ownership of the premises like Latest Tax Paid Receipt or Municipal Khata copy or Electricity Bill copy·

  • In case of Rented or Leased premises – a copy of the valid Rent / Lease Agreement with any document in support of the ownership of the premises of the Lessor like Latest Tax Paid Receipt or Municipal Khata copy or Electricity Bill copy.

  • In case of premises obtained from others, other than by way of Lease or Rent – a copy of the Consent Letter with any document in support of the ownership of the premises of the Consenter like Municipal Khata copy or Electricity Bill copy.

  • Customer ID or account ID of the owner of the property in the record of electricity providing company, wherever available should be sought for address verification.

This is required as an evidence to show possession of business premises. If the documentary evidence in Rent Agreement or Consent letter shows that the Lessor is different from that shown in the document produced in support of the ownership of the property, then the case must be flagged as a “Risk

Case”, warranting a post registration visit for verification. GST Law Drafting Committee may add penalty provision for providing wrong lease details.

 

12. Details of Bank Account (s)

Opening page of the Bank Passbook held in the name of the Proprietor / Business Concern – containing the Account No., Name of the Account Holder, MICR and IFS Codes and Branch details

This is required for all the bank accounts through which the taxpayer would be conducting business.

17.  Details of Authorised Signatory

For each Authorised Signatory:

  • Letter of Authorisation or copy of Resolution of the Managing Committee or Board of Directors to that effect

 

This is required to verify whether the person signing as Authorised Signatory is duly empowered to do so.

Photograph

 

  • Proprietary Concern – Proprietor

  • Partnership Firm / LLP – Managing/ Authorized Partners (personal details of all partners is to be submitted but photos of only ten partners including that of Managing Partner is to be submitted)

  • HUF – Karta

  • Company – Managing Director or the Authorised Person

  • Trust – Managing Trustee

  • Association of Person or Body of Individual –Members of Managing Committee (personal details of all members is to be submitted but photos of only ten members including that of Chairman is to be submitted)

  • Local Body – CEO or his equivalent

  • Statutory Body – CEO or his equivalent

  • Others – Person in Charge

 

6.3.1 For Field No 16 (i.e. Details of Proprietor / all partners / Karta / Managing Director and whole-time Director / Members of the Managing Committee of Association of Persons / Board of Trustees etc.) and Field No 17 (i.e. Details of the Authorized Signatory), verification of PAN with CBDT database and GSTN database will be carried out online before the submitted application is sent to the State/ Centre. In case of mismatch the applicant will be given an opportunity to correct the same.

 

6.4 A registration form has been designed and is annexed as Annexure-III. This form should be developed by GSTN as per the standard practices / protocols on IT notified by the Govt. of India e.g. for digitally capturing a postal address, name etc. In case there is no standard practice for any of the field, the same should be developed by the GSTN and form designed accordingly. Fields marked by asterisk in the form are mandatory fields and must be filled by the applicant.

 

Separate application forms are to be designed for:

 

(1) Multiple registration for business verticals of same legal entity (it must be registered already) within a State;

 

(2) Application for registration in more than one State (that can be filed at one go);

 

(3) Amendments to existing Registration(s);

 

(4) Cancellation of Registration(s);

 

(5) Option to avail / withdraw from the Compounding scheme;

 

(6) Enrolment of Tax Practitioner or Facilitation Centre if provided for in the GST Law;

 

(7) Assignment of Role (by a dealer) to TP/FC, as agent of the dealer if so provided for in the GST Law;

 

(8) Application for new registration on account of Succession / Amalgamation / De-merger etc. of existing GST registrants;

 

(9) Application by UN bodies for getting a Unique Identification Number (ID).

 

6.5 In some North-eastern States, individuals (Proprietorship firms) are exempt from Income Tax. However, to obtain GSTIN they will have to obtain a PAN before they can apply for registration under GST. Further Government departments will also be required to obtain PAN if they are required to obtain registration under GST. Under GST regime, registration will not be allowed without a valid PAN.

 

6.6 If applicant files application through the Facilitation Center, then the above procedure shall be followed by him through the FC by making available the requisite documents to the FC. The User ID and Password of taxable person will however be forwarded by portal to the e-mail furnished by the taxable person (that of primary authorized signatory) and by SMS to the mobile number furnished by taxable person or by post, if the taxable person so desires. It will not be sent to FC.

 

6.7 The GST common portal shall carry out preliminary verification / validation, including real-time PAN validation with CBDT portal, Adhaar No validation with UIDAI, CIN (Company Identification) with MCA and other numbers issued by other Departments through inter-portal connectivity before submission of the application form. Taxpayers would have the option to sign the submitted application using valid digital signatures (if the applicant is required to obtain DSC under any other prevalent law then he will have to submit his registration application using the same). In the absence of digital signature, taxpayers would have to send a signed copy of the summary extract of the submitted application form printed from the portal to a central processing center to be operated by GSTN. The location details of this central processing center would be intimated to the applicant along with the application acknowledgement number. The application will be processed even without waiting for receipt of the signed copy of the summary extract. If the signed copy is not received within 30 days, a reminder will be sent through e-mail and SMS to the authorized signatory through the portal. If the copy is not received within 30 days after such reminder being sent, the system will prompt the concerned tax authority to initiate the action for cancellation of the registration. Such cancellation will have prospective effect i.e. from the date of cancellation. GST portal would acknowledge the receipt of application for registration and issue an Acknowledgement Number which could be used by the applicant for tracking his application. Such Acknowledgement Number would not contain the details of jurisdictional officers.

 

6.8 The application form will be passed on by GST portal to the IT system of the concerned State/ Central tax authorities for onward submission to appropriate jurisdictional officer (based on the location of the principal place of business) along with the following information –

 

(1) Uploaded scanned documents;

 

(2) State specific data and documents;

 

(3) Details if the business entity is already having registration in other States. This should also include GST compliance rating4;

 

(4) Details of the PAN(s) of individuals mentioned in the application which are part of the other GST registrations;

 

(5) Acknowledgment number stated in para 6.7 above;

 

(6) Details of any record of black-listing or earlier rejection of application for common PAN(s).

 

(7) Last day for response as per the 3 common working day limit for both tax authorities as set out through Holiday Master.

 

On receipt of application in their respective system, the Centre / State authorities would forward the application to jurisdictional officers who shall examine whether the uploaded documents (as detailed in para 6.3 above) are in order and respond back to the common portal within 3 common working days, excluding the day of submission of the application on the portal, using the Digital Signature Certificates.

 

An indicative process for processing of the application by the concerned tax authorities will be drafted and shared separately. Submission of latitude and longitude data in respect of principal place of business will be of help in automatic identification of jurisdictional officer in case of geographically distributed officials mapped on a digital map. However, submission of latitude and longitude would be optional.

 

6.9 After verification, the following situations are possible:

 

(1) If the information and the uploaded documents are found in order, the State and the Central authorities shall approve the application and communicate the approval to the common portal within 3 common working days. The portal will then automatically generate the Registration Certificate.

 

(2) If during the process of verification, one of the authorities raises some query or notices some error, the same shall be communicated to the applicant either by the Tax Authority directly or through the GST Common Portal and also simultaneously to the other authority and to the GST Common Portal within 3 common working days. The applicant will reply to the query / rectify the error / answer the query within a period informed by the concerned tax authorities (Normally this period would be seven days). A separate sub-process and interactive form for this purpose will have to be designed. On receipt of additional document or clarification, the relevant tax authority will respond within 7 common working days. (time-period that would be allowed to the applicant for rectification of any error will be decided by the GST Law drafting committee)

 

(3) Thereafter the processing of registration application will commence resulting in either grant of registration or refusal to grant registration. If either of the two authorities (Centre or State) refuses to grant registration, the registration will not be granted.

 

(4) In case registration is refused, the applicant will be informed about the reasons for such refusal through a speaking order. The applicant shall have the right to appeal against the decision of the Authority. A deeming provision to the effect that rejection of the registration application by one authority amounts to rejection by both Centre and State will need to be incorporated in the GST law.

 

(5) The tax authorities in the Centre and State would have a period of 3 common working days to respond to the application, either conveying approval or raising a query. In case any of the authority neither reject the application nor raise a query within 3 common working days, then the registration would be deemed to have been approved by both the authorities and the GST Common Portal will automatically generate the registration certificate. In case either authority raises a query within 3 common working days, applicant will have to respond to the same within next 7 common working days failing which the application will be rejected. After the applicant has responded to the query raised by any authority, a period of another 7 common working days will be given to the authorities to respond to the application. In case any of the authority neither rejects the application nor raises a query during this period, then the registration would be deemed to have been approved by both the authorities and the GST Common Portal will automatically generate the registration certificate. ( GST law to have provision for the same)

 

6.10 The applicant shall be informed of the fact of grant or rejection of his registration application through an e-mail and SMS by the GST common portal. Jurisdictional details would be intimated to the applicant at this stage.

 

6.11 In case registration is granted, applicant can download the Registration Certificate from the GST common portal. GST law may provide that GST Registration certificate shall be displayed at the principal place of business of the taxpayer.

 

6.12 The GST common portal will provide a risk profile to the tax authorities based on the risk parameters made available by the tax authorities. The Central/State tax authorities will also have their own risk profile based on their own risk parameters. It was noted that submission of Adhaar No. cannot be made compulsory. Non –submission of Adhaar No. could be one of the risk parameters for deciding about the post registration physical verification. On the basis of both risk profiles, the jurisdictional officer of tax authorities will take a decision about post registration verification of the application if so provided in the GST Law.

 

6.13 GST Law Drafting Committee may provide for appropriate provision for imposition of substantial penalty in cases of fraudulent registrations.