GST — Registration, Returns & Compliance

Every December the same claim circulates in trade groups: GSTR-9 is only for big companies. The exemption people rely on is a conditional relaxation notified year by year under the proviso to Section 44 of the CGST Act, not a permanent carve-out written into the Act. Section 44 itself excludes only five categories, and none of them is small taxpayers. This article sets out who must actually file the annual return for FY 2025-26 by 31 December 2026, how aggregate turnover under Section 2(6) is computed at PAN level including exempt supplies, when GSTR-9C becomes a separate obligation above Rs.5 crore, the turnover-linked late fee slabs that replaced the headline Rs.200 per day figure, and the three-year time bar that makes an unfiled annual return permanently incurable. Includes the tables that generate the most departmental notices and a worked late fee calculation.

Most business owners believe GST e-invoicing is a large-company problem, and that the threshold is tested against last year's turnover. Both beliefs are wrong, and both produce invoices that are legally not invoices at all. The e-invoicing threshold of Rs.5 crore under Rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 is triggered by aggregate turnover in ANY financial year from FY 2017-18 onwards — cross it once and there is no exit provision anywhere in the rules. Aggregate turnover under Section 2(6) is computed at PAN level, not per GSTIN, so three state registrations of Rs.2 crore each put all three inside the net. Rule 48(5) then states that any invoice issued by a notified person without an Invoice Reference Number shall not be treated as an invoice, which puts the recipient's input tax credit under Section 16(2)(a) directly at risk. Businesses with aggregate annual turnover of Rs.10 crore or more face a further hard constraint: since 1 April 2025 the Invoice Registration Portal refuses any document older than 30 days, with no late upload or condonation route. This article sets out how to test the threshold correctly across historic years, what must and must not carry an IRN, the exempted categories, the penalty exposure under Sections 122(1)(i) and 122(3)(e), and a step-by-step process for enabling, integrating and reconciling e-invoicing — including how to handle a historic compliance gap deliberately rather than quietly.

Most landlords and tenants still believe rent is exempt from GST. The exemption is real, but it has been narrowed twice — once on 18 July 2022 when residential dwellings rented to registered persons moved to reverse charge, and again on 10 October 2024 when Notification 09/2024-CT(R) extended RCM to commercial premises rented from unregistered landlords. This piece sets out the four cases that actually exist under Entry 12 of Notification 12/2017-CT(R) and Schedule II Para 5(a) of the CGST Act, works the penalty arithmetic on a real exposure (roughly Rs.7 lakh on a Rs.1.5L-per-month office let since October 2024), and explains why the tenant — not the landlord — carries the statutory liability under Section 9(3). It covers when the residential exemption survives for a proprietor, why RCM must be discharged in cash before credit is available, how to report in Table 3.1(d) and 4(A)(3) of GSTR-3B, the mandatory self-invoice under Section 31(3)(f), and how to regularise past periods through Form DRC-03 under Section 73(5) to avoid penalty entirely.

Ask ten small business owners who pays GST on a lawyer's invoice and at least seven will say the lawyer does. It is exactly backwards. Under reverse charge, the recipient of the supply is the taxable person — and if you have been treating your advocate's or your goods transporter's zero-GST invoice as GST-free, you are carrying an undeclared liability with 18% interest running on it. This article sets out what Sections 9(3) and 9(4) of the CGST Act 2017 actually require: which services are notified under Notification 13/2017-CT(R), why Section 24(iii) forces registration below the turnover threshold, why Section 49(4) means reverse charge must be paid in cash and cannot be set off against an existing credit balance, how the 31-day and 61-day time-of-supply fallbacks under Sections 12(3) and 13(3) create liability before you pay, the Rule 47A 30-day self-invoice deadline, and exactly how to report it in GSTR-3B Table 3.1(d) and reconcile it to Table 4(A)(3). Includes a worked example for a Rs.3.2 crore company, the sponsorship and metal scrap changes most compliance sheets still get wrong, and an eight-step remediation checklist.

The GST system compares GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B automatically every month. A mismatch triggers an ASMT-10 notice. Here is why mismatches occur, how to reconcile them step by step, and what Section 73 vs 74 means for your penalty exposure.

Section 17(5) of the CGST Act permanently blocks ITC on motor vehicles, employee welfare, construction, and gifts — regardless of business purpose. These blocked credits are the most common GST audit finding. Here is the complete list and the exceptions.

Three GST thresholds, multiple special-category states, and a PAN-level aggregation rule that trips up everyone who treats their states as separate businesses. Here is which limit applies to you and when Section 24 overrides all thresholds.

RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) replaces MEIS and refunds embedded central, state, and local duties not covered by other schemes. This guide explains the rate structure, eligible HS categories, the scrip mechanism, and how to combine RoDTEP with IGST refunds, Advance Authorisation, and EPCG.

Complete guide to GSTR-9 for FY 2025-26: who must file, what to declare, common ITC reconciliation errors, GSTR-9C requirement, and 31 December 2026 deadline.

Everything about GST registration: who must register, documents required, the online application process, the 30-day timeline, and penalties for non-registration.

GST registration is mandatory if your annual turnover crosses ₹40 lakh (goods) or ₹20 lakh (services). Certain businesses must register regardless of turnover. Know the rules before you cross the threshold.