GUEST COLUMN

Gearing Up for GST - Enrolment of the Existing Taxpayer on the GST System Portal

Chetan Jain

C.J.K Legal Associates

Introduction:

One of the important aspects for successful implementation of proposed GST would be to deal with transitional issues arising in relation to Registration, being the first step of taxation. Transitional provisions in relation to Registration to ensure that the existing Registered Assesses are automatically, timely and conveniently registered under the GST Law with minimum hassles.

Section 142 of the Model CGST/SGST Act contains the provisions for Migration of existing taxpayers to GST. Also Para 7.0 of the Draft Report of the Joint Committee on Business Process for GST on Registration Process in GST Regime also discusses the expected process for Migration of Existing Registrants.

Every person registered under an earlier law and having a Permanent Account Number issued under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act 43 of 1961) shall be granted registration on a provisional basis and a certificate of registration in FORM GST REG- 21, incorporating the Goods and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN) therein, shall be made available on the Common Portal. This Provisional Certificate i.e. REG -21 shall be valid for six months.

Every person who has been granted a provisional registration under subrule (1) shall submit an application electronically in FORM GST REG?20, duly signed, along with the information and documents specified in the said application, on the Common Portal either directly or through a Facilitation Centre, notified by the Board or Commissioner within a period of six months, failing which Provisional Registration shall be cancelled.

A Separate Flow Chart explaining the Process of Migration of Existing Tax Payers into New GST Regime with reference to draft Provisions involved and Relevant Forms/Formats applicable:

After completion of the above procedure i.e. obtaining of Certificate of Registration in Form REG-06, every taxpayer will be allotted a state wise PAN-based 15-digit Goods and Services Taxpayer Identification Number (GSTIN).

Various digits in GSTIN will denote the following:

What information should be readily available before begin to enroll with GST?

Before enrolling with GST System Portal, you must ensure to have the following information/ documents available with you:-

I. Provisional ID received from State/Central Authorities (Generated while registering at GST portal)

II. Password received from the State/Central Authorities;

III. Valid Email Address;

IV Bank Account Number

V. Bank IFSC

Documents

A) Proof of Constitution of Business :

i. In case of Partnership firm: Partnership Deed of Partnership Firm (PDF and JPEG format in maximum size of 1 MB)

ii. In case of Others: Registration Certificate of the Business Entity (PDF and JPEG format in maximum size of 1 MB)

B) Photograph of Promoters/ Partners/Karta of HUF (JPEG format in maximum size of 100 KB)

C) Proof of Appointment of Authorized Signatory (PDF and JPEG format in maximum size of 1 MB)

D) Photograph of Authorized Signatory (JPEG format in maximum size of 100 KB)

E) Opening page of Bank Passbook / Statement containing Bank Account Number of < Account Number>, Address of Branch, Address of Account holder and few transaction details (PDF and JPEG format in maximum size of 1 MB)

Which details are prefilled in the enrolment application for enrolling with GST?

Following details are auto-populated in the enrolment application based on your existing data:

PAN of the Business
Legal Name of Business
State
Reason of liability to obtain registration
Email Address and Mobile number of primary Authorized Signatory entered during enrolling with GST System Portal

Method of authentication

(1) All applications, including reply, if any, to the notices, returns, appeals or any other document required to be submitted under these rules shall be filed electronically at the Common Portal with digital signature certificate or through e-signature as specified under Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) or through any other mode of signature notified by the Board/Commissioner in this behalf.

(2) Each document including return filed online shall be signed by ?

(a) in the case of an individual, by the individual himself or by some person duly authorised by him in this behalf and where the individual is mentally incapacitated from attending to his affairs, by his guardian or by any other person competent to act on his behalf;

(b) in the case of a Hindu Undivided Family, by a Karta and where the Karta is absentfrom India or is mentally incapacitated from attending to his affairs, by any other adult member of such family or by the authorised signatory of such Karta;

(d) in the case of a Government or any Governmental agency or local authority, by an officer authorised in this behalf;

(e) in the case of a firm, by any partner thereof, not being a minor or authorized signatory;

(f) in the case of any other association, by any member of the association or persons or authorised signatory;

(g) in the case of a trust, by the trustee or any trustee or authorised signatory; and

(h) in the case of any other person, by some person competent to act on his behalf.

(3) All orders and notices under this chapter / Part shall be issued electronically by the proper officer or any other officer authorised to issue any notice or order, through digital signature certificate specified under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).

Process involved in pre & Post Migration of Existing Tax payers to GST:

1) GSTIN will be generated by NSDL in case of all VAT TINs where PAN has been validated. Along with a password the GSTIN will be sent to respective State Tax Authorities.

2) State tax authorities will communicate the GSTIN/password to taxpayers, with instruction to log on the GST portal and fill up the remaining data. State specific data over and above what is contained in the GST Registration Form can be collected after GST registration becomes operational.

3) The data so collected by GSTN/NSDL will be provided to States so that they can undertake the verification exercise as per their convenience after 1/4/2016 in a staggered manner spread over a period of one to two quarters so that it does affect the working of the tax authorities. This is being suggested as the dealer is already registered with VAT department.

4). In case, PAN has been validated but the email or mobile numbers of dealers are not available, such dealers may be advised through newspaper advertisement to visit the GST portal and use the following data for user authentication:

1. VAT-TIN

2. PAN

3. Date of Birth/Date of Incorporation in DDMMYYYY format. (This data is available with PAN Database)

i. Date of birth of proprietor in case of Proprietorship firm.

ii. Date of incorporation in case of all other types of dealers.

iii. In those cases where PAN has not been validated, State VAT department will have to collect the taxpayers.

(5) In case of Service Tax, the taxpayers are not registered under a State, a different approach will have to be adopted.

I. Since all Service Taxpayers have user ID and password and Service Tax has their email IDs, they may advice the taxpayers to intimate State(s) where they would like to get themselves registered in.

II. Service Tax portal will check from GST portal whether GSTIN has been generated for combination of State and PAN of the taxpayer. If not generated, request GST portal to generate the same.

III. GST portal will generate the GSTIN and communicate to Service Tax, which will be communicated to the taxpayer asking him/her to provide remaining data at GST Portal.

(6) Any verification / updation of the information as outlined above would have to be done by the taxable person within a specified period.

(7) If the verification/updation is not done within the stipulated period, the GSTIN will be suspended till the taxable person does the needful.

(8) Any verification by State / Central authorities can be done after GSTIN is issued.

[Views expressed are strictly personal]