What is GST(Goods & Services Tax)?

Goods and Service Tax is a tax proposed to be levied on supply of goods and services right from the point of manufacturing to final consumption by user. In short it is a destination based tax accruing at the place of sale/supply.

A business entity that is currently registered under any of the existing tax regimes then you are compulsorily required to migrate under GST law irrespective of the threshold limits. But if you are supplying goods and services and not registered under any existing tax legislative then you are liable to register only if the aggregate turnover in any financial year exceeds the threshold limit.

Every supplier of goods and services is required to get registered under GST if his aggregate annual turnover during the financial year exceeds 20 lakhs (for North Eastern States the threshold limit is 10 lakhs).

Suppliers who are engaged in supply of following goods or services listed below:
Exempted Goods (list will be notified by GST Council)
Goods like liquor for personal consumption, petroleum products etc
Importing services for personal use as reverse charge will not be applicable

No, the below listed category of suppliers will have to get registration even if they do not exceed the threshold limit:
Casual Taxable Person
Non Resident Person
Business engaged in inter-state supply of goods and services
Those who are required to deduct TDS u/s 46 or collect TCS u/s 56
Input Service Distributor
Electronic commerce operator supplying goods and services directly or acting as intermediary to promote exchange (list of specific goods and services will be prescribed for this purpose)
Person supplying data management services irrespective of whether located in India or not
Thus above person will have to get registered even if their aggregate turnover during a financial year does not exceed the threshold limit

No, there is no concept of central registration under GST. Every person will have to obtain a separate registration for every state in which he has a business establishment whether by same name or a different name. Even if person is having same PAN number and has operations in different states every operational unit will have to apply for separate registration.

Yes, business units even though registered with the same name and under the same PAN will have to apply for separate registration for each such unit within the same state.

This scheme is introduced for small tax payers to reduce the compliance burden on them. Business registered under composition scheme will be liable to pay tax only to a maximum of 2.5% for manufacturers and 1% for other than manufacturers. They would not be part of credit chain and hence cannot collect any tax from consumers.

Only those persons whose annual turnover is below 50 lakhs in preceding financial year and who is supplying goods and services within the same state only are eligible to apply for composition scheme. If supply of goods and services are effected inter-state then this scheme won’t be available for that person.

Yes, you can apply for GST Registration online. You can simply register your business on the official GST portal and then scan and upload all the required documents. You will then receive an acknowledgement. A GSTIN will be generated on acceptance of the application and a temporary password and login will be sent. GSTIN is a unique 15-digit ID.

he exemption limit is a supply turnover of Rs. 20 lakh for businesses in all but the Indian states in the northeast region. Businesses in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura must get a GST registration if their supply turnover exceeds Rs. 10 lakh. As mentioned above, this threshold limit applies only to businesses that operate within their home state. A business that conducts trade with another state must seek registration regardless of turnover.

The composition scheme would be applicable to businesses with a turnover of up to Rs. 50 lakh. Such taxpayers would pay a fixed percentage of its turnover and cannot avail of the benefits of input tax credit. Such businesses cannot collect tax from its customers. The floor rate of tax cannot be less than 1%.

Yes, GST applies to all service providers, manufacturers and traders. It extends to any dealers, bloggers, and writers, earnings from Google AdWords through PayPal, import-export businesses, all kinds of startups and companies, whether they are LLPs, proprietorships, partnerships or private limited companies. It also applies, regardless of the threshold limit, to:
Businesses operating outside their home state
A business not registered to the state
Businesses paying a reverse charge
Input service distributor
E-commerce operators
Aggregators selling services under own brand name (Ola, for example)
Online sellers
Suppliers or agents