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Migration of existing taxpayers to GST regime

Goods and Services tax (GST), which is considered as a historic reform, is now around the corner. The target date to roll out the new indirect tax regime is scheduled on July 1st, 2017 after the decision reached at 9th meeting of all-powerful GST Council. However, the journey has begun already with the migration of all the existing registrants under Central Excise, Service Tax, VAT, Entry Tax, Luxury Tax to GST regime. As per section 166 – ‘Migration of existing taxpayers to GST’ of Revised Model GST Law, on the appointed day (which is expected to be July 1, 2017), every person registered under any of the earlier laws and having a valid PAN shall be issued a certificate of registration on a provisional basis and the same shall be valid for a period of six months from the date of its issue. Every person to whom a certificate of registration has been issued shall furnish such information as may be prescribed and on furnishing of such information, the provisional certificate of registration issued shall, subject to the provisions of section 23, be granted on a final basis by the Central/State Government. As mentioned above, the enrolment schedule for existing taxpayers has already been started and the same has been specified state-wise on GST common portal which are as follows:

 States Start Date End Date
Pondicherry, Sikkim 08/11/2016 07/12/2016
Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh 14/11/2016 07/12/2016
Gujarat 15/11/2016 07/12/2016
Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram 30/11/2016 15/12/2016
Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan 16/12/2016 31/12/2016
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh 01/01/2017 31/01/2017
Enrolment of Taxpayers who are registered under Central Excise Act but not registered under State VAT 07/01/2017 31/01/2017
Enrolment of Taxpayers who are registered under Service Tax Act but not registered under State VAT 25/01/2017 Started
New registration under VAT/Service Tax/Central Excise after August 2016 01/02/2017 Not Yet Started

In order to migrate under the GST regime, the taxpayers are advised to keep certain things ready to avoid a problem of session out on GST portal i.e., www.gst.gov.in. 1. For creation of user id & password on GST common portal:

1.  It is necessary for existing taxpayers to have provisional id and password issued by respective department for creation of user id & password on gst common portal. Also, it is possible to generate provisional id and password with the help of step by step user guide issued by online CBEC as well as respective states VAT site. On entering provisional id & password, GST common portal will ask for email-id & mobile number of authorized persons on which two different one-time passwords (OTP’s) will be sent. Therefore, it is also important to have valid email id and mobile number of authorised representatives because all future information’s will be circulated on this email id and mobile number only by the GST common portal. In case one assesse got four provisional ids from four different states for its branches, in that case he/she has to enrol four times with respective ids.

 

2. For filling details of business: After logging with the user-id and password, a provisional GST number shall be seen, which shall start with state code followed by 10-digit pan number and 3 more system generated digits. Now, for filling details of business, it is necessary to have information readily available regarding various registrations along with the date of registration as provided under central excise, service tax, luxury tax, entertainment tax, corporate identity number, etc., while filing application of migration on GST common portal. In addition to above, a scanned copy of proof of constitution with maximum size of 1 MB in pdf or jpeg format i.e., Shop and Establishment License/ Factory License in case of individual, Partnership Deed in case of partnership firm, Registration Certificate in case of others shall be required.

 

3. For filling details of proprietor, partner, managing and whole-time director, karta and authorized signatory: It is necessary to have ready information available such as full name, full name of father/husband, date of birth, mobile number, gender, designation DIN number, PAN number and AADHAR number of proprietor, partner, managing and whole-time director, karta and authorized signatory. In addition to above details, full residential address (building /flat no., name of premises, road, locality, state, district, pin code, etc.) and the scanned copy of photograph with maximum size of 100KB in jpeg format only is also required to be uploaded on the common portal.
It is also to be noted that authorized signatory is the person who is primarily responsible to perform action at the GST common portal on behalf of the taxpayer. He can be proprietor or any person authorized by him in case of proprietor, authorized partner or any person authorized by partners in case of partnership and the person authorized by board or governing body in case of company, LLP, society or trust.
Further, in case of authorized representative, a scanned copy of board resolution or authority letter evidencing appointment of such authorised person with maximum size of 100KB in pdf or jpeg format shall be required. The details of maximum 10 peoples appointed as an authorized signatory can be filled on gst common portal, one of whom be designated as primary authorized signatory.

 

4. For filling details related to principal and additional place of business: It is necessary to have ready information available of address (Building /Flat no., name of premises, road, locality, state, district, pin code, etc.), official email id, mobile number, office telephone number, nature of possession of premises. In addition to above details, a scanned copy of proof of principal place of business with maximum file size of 1MB in pdf/jpeg format is also required. Following documents can be used as a proof of principal place of business:
a) In case of owned premises: any document supporting ownership of premises. b) In case of rented or leased premises: a copy of valid rent/lease agreement. c) In any other case: a copy of consent letter with any document in support of ownership of premises of the consenter.

 

5. For filling details related to goods and services supplied: It is necessary to have ready information available regarding top 5 goods as per Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) code and top 5 services as per Service Accounting Code (SAC) code which are same as per existing law.

 

6. For filling details related to bank accounts: It is necessary to have ready information available regarding bank account number along with IFSC code. In addition to above, a scanned copy of bank statement with maximum size of 500 KB in pdf/jpeg format or an opening page of bank passbook with maximum size of 100 KB shall also be required. It is to be noted that details of top 10 bank accounts only can be filled on GST common portal.

 

7. For verification purpose: After filling all above details, existing taxpayers are required to submit application by using class 2 or class 3 digital signature (DSA) in case of companies and limited liability partnerships or by e-signature using AADHAR number of authorized representatives in case other than companies and limited liability partnerships. It is to be noted that taxpayer must register his DSA or update the same while filing an application for migration to GST regime. If a taxpayer opts to electronically sign the enrolment application or any other document at GST common portal using the E-sign service, the GST common portal prompts the taxpayer to enter the AADHAR number of authorized signatory and after validating the AADHAR number, GST Common portal request UIDAI to send an OTP to registered e-mail id and mobile number against AADHAR number. That OTP is required to be entered when GST portal prompts the taxpayer and after entering of OTP, enrolment application is submitted successfully using E-sign.
After going through of all the seven steps above, GST common portal will generate acknowledgment receipt number (ARN) which is to be kept on record for all future correspondence to track the status of application of migration. ARN is a unique number assigned to each transaction completed at the GST common portal. It will also be generated on submission of enrolment application using DSC. ARN would help in easily migration of GST on the scheduled GST roll out date with issue of Provisional Certificate. The application submitted at GSTN portal reflect our status as follows: – Provisional (once application saved),  Migrated (once signed),  active (on the appointed date all ids with migrated status will be active),  Suspended (After six months, all applications which are not electronically signed will be suspended)

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