VERIFICATION AND GRANT OF NEW REGISTRATION UNDER GST IN CERTAIN CASES
The Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 came into force
with effect from 1.7.2017 in India.
The Registrations under GST were cancelled in certain
cases for the following cases.
a)
Non-submission
of monthly/quarterly returns under GST
b)
Non-compliance
of statutory provisions under GST
c) Applying
for fresh registration instead of applying revocation of cancelled registration
The applicants were filing new applications for
registrations without filling all the particulars required in the new
registration applications. The columns
wantonly left blank were Sl.No. 7 “Date of Commencement of Business” or Sl.No.
8 “Date on which liability to register arises” or Sl.No.14 “Reason to obtain
registration” etc.
The Central Government has issued instructions to the
department officials regarding how to verify and deal with the applications in
such cases of new registrations.
The relevant circular is given below for ready
reference:
F. No. CBEC-20/16/04/2018
– GST Government
of India
Ministry of Finance
Department
of Revenue
Central
Board of Indirect Taxes
and
Customs
GST Policy Wing
***
To,
New Delhi, Dated the 28th March, 2019
The Principal Chief Commissioners / Chief Commissioners / Principal Commissioners /
Commissioners of Central Tax
(All)
The Principal Director
Generals / Director Generals (All) Madam/Sir,
Subject: Verification of applications for grant of new registration – Reg.
Recently, a large number of registrations have been cancelled by the proper officer
under the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the Central Goods and Services Act,
2017 (hereinafter referred to as „CGST Act‟)
read with rule 21 of the Central Goods and
Services Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as „CGST
Rules‟) on account of non-
compliance of the said statutory provisions. In this regard, instances have come to notice that
such persons, who continue
to
carry on
business
and therefore
are required to have registration under GST, are
not applying for
revocation of cancellation of registration as specified
in section 30 of the CGST Act read with rule 23
of the CGST Rules. Instead, such persons
are
applying for fresh registration. Such new
applications might have
been made as such person may not have furnished requisite returns and not paid tax for the tax periods
covered under the
old/cancelled registration. Further,
such persons would be required to pay all liabilities due from them for the relevant period in case they
apply for revocation of cancellation of
registration. Hence, to avoid payment of the tax liabilities, such persons may
be using the route of applying
for fresh registration. It is pertinent to mention that as per the provisions contained in proviso to sub-section (2) of section 25 of the CGST Act, a
person may take separate registration
on same PAN in the same State.
2. In order to ensure
uniformity in the implementation
of the provisions of law across the field formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred by
section 168 (1) of the CGST Act,
hereby issues the following instructions.
3. Sub-section (10) of section 25 of the CGST Act read with rule 9 of the CGST Rules
provide for rejection of application for registration if the information or documents
submitted by the applicant are found to be deficient. It is possible that the applicant may suppress some
material information
in relation to earlier registration. Some of the information that may be concealed in the application for registration in FORM GST REG -01 are S. No. 7 „Date of
Commencement of Business‟, S. No. 8 „Date on which liability to register arises‟, S. No. 14
„Reason to obtain registration‟ etc. Such persons may also not furnish the details of earlier
registrations,
if any, obtained
under GST on the same
PAN.
4. It
is
hereby
instructed
that
the
proper
officer may
exercise
due
caution while processing the application for registration submitted by the taxpayers, where the tax payer is
seeking another registration within the State although he has an existing registration within
the said State or his earlier registration has been cancelled. It is clarified that not applying
for revocation of
cancellation of registration along with the continuance of
the conditions specified in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the
CGST Act shall be deemed to be a “deficiency” within the meaning
of sub-rule (2) of rule 9 of the CGST Rules. The proper officer may compare the information pertaining
to earlier registrations with the
information contained in the present application, the grounds on which the earlier registration(s) were cancelled and the current status of the statutory violations for which the
earlier registration(s) were cancelled. The data
may be verified on common portal by fetching
the details of registration taken on the PAN
mentioned in the new application vis-a-vis cancellation of registration obtained on same PAN. The information regarding
the status of other registrations granted on the same PAN is displayed on the common portal to both the applicant and the proper officer. Further, if required, information submitted by applicant in S. No. 21 of FORM GST REG-01 regarding details of proprietor, all partner/Karta/Managing
Directors and whole time Director/Members of Managing Committee of Associations/Board
of Trustees etc.
may
be analysed
vis-à-vis
any
cancelled
registration having
same details.
5. While considering the application for registration, the proper officer shall ascertain if
the earlier registration was cancelled on account of violation of the provisions of clauses (b)
and (c) of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the CGST Act and whether the applicant has
applied for revocation of cancellation of registration. If proper officer finds that application
for revocation of cancellation
of registration has not
been filed and the conditions
specified in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the CGST Act are still continuing, then, the
same may be considered as a ground for rejection of application for registration in terms
of sub-rule (2) read with sub-rule (4) of rule
9 of
CGST Rules. Therefore, it is advised that where the applicant fails to furnish sufficient convincing
justification or the proper officer is not satisfied with the clarification, information or documents
furnished, then, his application
for fresh registration may be considered for rejection.
6. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicise the contents
of these instructions.
7. Difficulty, if any, in the implementation
of these instructions may be brought to the notice of
the Board. Hindi version
will follow
(Upender Gupta)
Principal Commissioner (GST)