GST Registration Online in India Documents, Fees & Limits

Rule 14A came into force on 1 November 2025 through Notification 18/2025-Central Tax and is the biggest change to GST registration since the tax began. It creates an optional simplified scheme for low-risk applicants: once Aadhaar authentication succeeds and the system risk-profiles the application, the GSTIN is granted electronically within three working days with no officer intervention.

The eligibility test is one number. Your total output tax liability on supplies made to registered persons, adding CGST, SGST or UTGST, IGST and cess together, must not exceed ₹2.5 lakh per month. Most small businesses, freelancers and new sellers sit comfortably inside that and never find out the route exists.

The route is optional and reversible, but exit has conditions. For withdrawal applications made after 1 April 2026 you must have filed returns for at least one tax period, and every pending return from the effective date of registration up to the date of the withdrawal application must be filed first.

The ₹40 lakh figure people quote comes from Notification 10/2019-Central Tax, and it carries two conditions almost nobody repeats alongside it. It applies only to a person engaged exclusively in the supply of goods, so a single consulting invoice on the side drops the whole business to ₹20 lakh. And ten states and union territories are excluded from it entirely.

Threshold is measured on aggregate turnover as defined in Section 2(6): the all-India value of taxable, exempt, export and inter-state supplies on the same PAN, excluding inward supplies taxed under reverse charge and the GST itself. It is computed PAN-wide, not per state and not per business line, which is what catches most people out.

Once you become liable you have 30 days to apply under Section 25(1). A casual or non-resident taxable person must apply at least five days before starting business.

Section 24 of the CGST Act lists the situations where the threshold simply does not apply. Any one of these makes registration compulsory from your first rupee of turnover, and several of them catch small businesses who assume they are safely under the limit.

The distinction that decides most freelancer and consultant cases is between goods and services moving across a state border. Inter-state supply of goods forces registration immediately. Inter-state supply of services does not, because Notification 10/2017-Integrated Tax exempts service suppliers until they cross the ordinary threshold. Same border, opposite answer.

The document list is not the same for a proprietor and a private limited company, and filing the wrong set is one of the most common reasons an application comes back with a query. A DSC, for instance, is mandatory for companies and LLPs but not for a proprietorship, where Aadhaar-based e-signing is enough.

Whatever the entity, three things must line up before anything is filed: the name format on PAN must match Aadhaar, the address proof must be recent and fully legible, and the person signing must have documented authority to sign for that entity.

The government charges nothing for GST registration. There is no statutory fee on the portal, and anyone telling you otherwise is describing their own professional fee. What you pay a service provider covers document review, correct classification, filing, ARN follow-up and handling any officer query.

What varies between providers is scope rather than the filing itself. Ask specifically whether the quote covers a query response if the department raises one, and whether the first return after the GSTIN is issued is included or billed separately. That second point is where most new registrants get an unexpected invoice.

Registration runs entirely on the GST portal and splits into two parts. Part A of Form REG-01 captures PAN, mobile and email and returns a Temporary Reference Number after OTP verification. Part B carries the substance: business details, promoters and partners, the authorised signatory, the principal place of business, additional places, goods and services with HSN or SAC codes, and bank details.

Aadhaar authentication decides your path from there. Where it succeeds and you are on the Rule 14A route, the GSTIN is granted within three working days. Where you opt out or authentication fails, the application goes for physical verification of the premises and the timeline stretches considerably.

Bank account details are the one thing you can furnish after the fact, but not indefinitely. They must be added within 30 days of registration or before filing the first GSTR-1, whichever is earlier, or the registration is liable to suspension.

Rule 8(4A) authentication has been rolled out state by state, and in the notified states the portal may direct the promoter or the authorised signatory to attend a GST Suvidha Kendra in person for biometric capture and document verification. The appointment link arrives by email along with the ARN.

Two practical points decide whether this goes smoothly. The person named on the link must be the one who attends, since the biometric is matched against that specific Aadhaar. And the original documents, not photocopies, must be carried to the appointment. Missing the appointment window is a common cause of an application lapsing quietly.

Most rejections are not complicated. They are formatting and consistency failures that a review before filing catches in minutes and an officer query takes two weeks to resolve.

The penalty for operating without registration when you were liable is set by Section 122 of the CGST Act, and it is not a fixed number. It runs at ₹10,000 or 10% of the tax due, whichever is higher, so for anything but a very small liability the percentage governs.

The consequences that hurt more than the penalty are usually commercial. Every month unregistered is a month your buyers could not claim credit on your invoices, a month of input tax you absorbed as cost, and a month of marketplace payouts held or listings blocked.

Registration is the start of a compliance cycle, not the end of a task. Your invoice format has to carry the GSTIN, place of supply and HSN or SAC codes from the first invoice. Bank details must be on the portal within 30 days. The first GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B fall due on the ordinary cycle whether or not you have made a single sale, and a nil return still has to be filed.

Exporters need a Letter of Undertaking on file before supplying without payment of tax. Anyone claiming Input Tax Credit needs the Invoice Management System reconciled from the first month rather than the first notice. Treating the first filing cycle as part of getting registration right is why our registration work includes it.

Before choosing a provider, ask four questions: do they review documents before filing or just submit what you send, who responds if the officer raises a query, is the first return after registration included or billed separately, and do they check the signatory and address setup against your specific entity type.

A service that answers those clearly is doing the work. One that leads with a speed claim and a price is selling a portal submission, which is the part you could have done yourself for free.