Taxable person under GST

A taxable person under GST is a person who manages a business in India needs to be registered under GST Act. Anyone who deals with economic activity such as trade and commerce is considered a taxable person under GST.

‘Person’ here refers to individuals, HUF, company, firm, LLP, an AOP/ BOI, any corporation or Government entity, body corporate incorporated under laws of a foreign country, co-operative society, local authority, government, trust, and artificial juridical person.

Who is Liable to get Registered under GST?

The following categories are liable for GST registration 

• The category of business involved in the supply of goods with a turnover in a financial year exceeds Rs.40 lakhs for Normal Category states  and Rs.20 lakhs for Special Category states

• The category of business  involved in the supply of services with a turnover in a financial year exceeds Rs.20 lakhs for Normal Category states and Rs.10 lakhs for Special Category states

• A person registered under an earlier law (i.e., Excise, VAT, Service Tax, etc.)  Is required to get registered under GST, too.

• In case a business already registered has been transferred to someone or demerged, the transferee should take registration with effect from the transfer date.

• A person engages with inter-state supplies

• Casual taxable person 

• Non-Resident taxable person

• Agents of a supplier

• A taxpayer paying tax under the reverse charge mechanism

• Input service distributor 

• E-commerce operator or aggregator

• A person who supplies via an e-commerce aggregator

• Person supplying online information and database access or retrieval (OIDAR) services abroad to a person in India, other than a registered taxpayer.

Who is a Casual Taxable Person under GST? 

A person who periodically supplies goods and/or services in a territory that is under GST jurisdiction but he does not own a fixed place of business. Such a person is considered as a casual taxable person under GST. 

For instance, A person who has a place of business in Kochi supplies his goods in an exhibition in Mysore where he has no place of business would be treated as a casual taxable person in Mysore.

Who is a Non-resident Taxable person under GST? 

When a non-resident occasionally supplies goods/services in a territory where GST is applicable but does not own a fixed place of business in India.  He will be considered a non-resident under GST. It is similar to the above except the non-resident does not have a place of business in India.

Who is an Input Service Distributor? 

Input service distributor denotes an office of the supplier of goods or services which receives tax invoices on receipt of input services and furnishes tax invoices for distributing the credit of CGST/SGST/IGST paid on the said services to your branch with the same PAN. It has to be a supplier of taxable goods or services having the same PAN as that of the office meant above. 

Thus, only credit on ‘input services could be distributed and it won’t be distributed on input goods or capital goods. It is a new concept for assessees who are at present unregistered as input service distributors. However, this is optional in nature.

Who is a composition taxpayer? 

A composition taxpayer is a taxpayer who is registered under the composition scheme who is not required to collect GST from their customers at normal rates. But, he could make the payment of tax at a nominal rate or lower rates to the tax regime based on their turnover or receipts on a quarterly basis as they file CMP-08.

There are certain criteria specified for such taxpayers. At the beginning of GST, only suppliers of goods were able to choose into the composition scheme governed by Section 10 of the CGST Act with annual turnover up to Rs.1.5 crore. From 1st April 2019 onwards, service providers were also given a choice to opt for a similar scheme. The annual aggregate turnover limit has to be up to Rs.50 lakh.

Who is a QRMP taxpayer? 

A registered taxpayer who is required to file a return in GSTR-3B, and who has an aggregate turnover of up to Rs.5 crore rupees in the prior financial year, has an option to submit for the QRMP scheme. A taxpayer could also file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B once in a quarter while making tax payments every month in form PMT-06. Moreover, if B2B sales invoices require to be uploaded on the GST portal monthly, then Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) could be used.

GST Registration by Type of Taxable Person

• Every person should apply for registration in every State in which he is liable to pay GST, within thirty days from the date on which he becomes liable to register under GST.

• Casual/non-resident taxable persons have to apply at least five days prior to their inception of the business.

• Registration number in GST would be based on PAN number and hence, having PAN would be a precondition for getting registration.

• The assessee has to get separate registration for each State, as registration under GST would be State-wise,

• The assessee has a choice to get a separate registration for each of the ‘business verticals’ in the same State.

 Special provisions of GST Registration for the casual taxable person and the non-resident taxable person

A casual taxable person or a non-resident taxable person shall apply for registration at least five days in advance of the commencement of business. Section 24 provides for special provisions regarding the casual taxable persons and non-resident taxable persons in GST. 

A casual/non-resident taxable person could get a tentative registration for a period of 90 days and that is extendable for additional 90 days. A person who gets registration u/s 24, needs to make an advance deposit of GST that is based on his estimated tax liability.