Goods & Services Tax — everything a business needs

GST registration is mandatory for any business whose aggregate turnover (all-India, PAN-based, all supplies including exempt) exceeds ₹40 lakh for goods or ₹20 lakh for services in a financial year. In special-category states (Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura) the goods threshold drops to ₹20 lakh and services to ₹10 lakh. Certain suppliers must register from day one — inter-state suppliers, e-commerce operators, casual taxable persons, non-resident taxable persons, reverse-charge suppliers and input service distributors.

The online application (Form GST REG-01) needs PAN, Aadhaar (for authentication), bank account, principal place of business proof (rent agreement + electricity bill / property tax receipt / NOC), and passport-size photographs of proprietor/partners/directors. Physical verification has been replaced by Aadhaar e-KYC for most applicants — GSTIN is typically issued in 7 working days when documents are clean. Taxpex's GST Registration service manages the entire filing end-to-end within 3–5 days.

GSTR-1 is the outward-supply return — B2B invoices, B2C large invoices, credit/debit notes, exports and HSN summary. It is filed monthly by taxpayers above ₹5 crore turnover (11th of the next month) and quarterly under the QRMP scheme for smaller taxpayers. GSTR-1 data auto-populates the recipient's GSTR-2B, which is the definitive statement of input tax credit available for that month.

GSTR-3B is the monthly summary return where output tax, ITC claimed and cash paid is finalised (20th–24th based on state). ITC in GSTR-3B cannot exceed what is reflected in GSTR-2B (Rule 36(4) restrictions were replaced by hard-coded system limits). Any mismatch triggers ASMT-10 scrutiny or DRC-01 demand — reconciling vendor invoices monthly is now non-negotiable.

E-invoicing is mandatory for every B2B invoice, credit note and debit note issued by taxpayers whose aggregate annual turnover (in any year from FY 2017-18) exceeds ₹5 crore. Invoices are uploaded to the Invoice Registration Portal, an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and QR code are returned, and only then can the invoice be issued to the buyer. Non-compliance means the invoice is legally invalid and ITC to the buyer is denied.

E-way bills are needed for movement of goods worth more than ₹50,000 (₹1 lakh in some states) — generated on ewaybillgst.gov.in before dispatch, with validity based on distance. Place-of-supply rules (Sec 10–13 IGST Act) determine whether CGST + SGST or IGST applies — wrong classification is the single most common reason for DRC-01 demand notices.