New Delhi: The Central Indirect Taxation and Customs Commission (CBIC) under the Ministry of Finance issued a new cycle clarification on Friday that the revised rules of GST appropriate officials will be followed during the registration process. It also said that the revised field formation guidelines will reduce compliance burdens on taxpayers and promote transparency. The circular comes at a time when CBIC observed an increase in the number of complaints of suspected harassment by taxpayers during the registration phase.
Businesses will now be able to register GST within 7 days, while applications marked as risk will be processed within 30 days of physical verification. The CBIC observed that some field personnel were seeking various “unreasonable documents” by proposing presumptive queries, so the CBIC gave an “indicative list” of the document that officials could seek from businesses online. The revised instructions of the CBIC grant GST registration, but in processing the registration application, the inquiry should not be made by the official seeking the original physical copy. ”
The CBIC also asked the field officers to carefully examine and check completeness of the registration application, and cross verify the authenticity of the documents furnished as proof of address from the publicly available sources, such as websites of the concerned authorities such as land registry, electricity distribution companies, municipalities, and local bodies, etc. “Officers handling registration applications should not ask any presumptive query which is not related to the documents or information submitted by the applicant,” CBIC said.
However, the CBIC expressed concern, saying it had received complaints about the difficulties faced in obtaining GST registration, mainly due to the nature of the officials seeking clarification and seeking other documents that were not stipulated by the board. Regarding the document in the main business location or PPOB, the applicant must upload any document – the latest property tax receipt or municipal khata copy or the owner’s electricity bill, or any similar national government document, such as water bill, clearly determines the ownership of the premises.
In the case of renting a house, the applicant is required to upload a valid rental/lease agreement and any documents related to the PPOB. Regarding documents related to the “Constitution”, the CBIC stated that the applicant is one of the partners and the applicant must upload a partnership deed regarding the commercial constitution. It added: “Other documents such as Udhyam certificates, MSME certificates, store establishment certificates, trade licenses, etc. should not be sought from the applicant.”
The CBIC also stated that if the application is not marked as a universal portal based on data analysis and risk parameters, and the application is found to be complete and without any defects, the officer should approve the application within 07 working days of filing the application.
“Registration shall be granted within 30 days of submission of application after physical verification of the place of business in case where the applicant has undergone authentication of Aadhaar number and is flagged as risky on the common portal based on the data analysis and risk parameters; or fails to undergo authentication of Aadhaar number; or the officer deems it fit to carry out physical verification of place of business,” it said.
