Do I need GST registration yet?
Know whether GST registration is compulsory for you, and when registering early is worth it anyway.
6 min read
GST registration is compulsory for some businesses and optional for the rest. Whether it is compulsory for you depends on three things: how much you sell, whether you sell goods or services, and where your customers are.
The turnover limits
Registration becomes compulsory once your turnover in a year crosses:
| Goods | Services | |
|---|---|---|
| Most states | ₹40 lakh | ₹20 lakh |
| Special category states | ₹20 lakh | ₹10 lakh |
Once you cross the limit, you must apply within 30 days.
"Turnover" here means your total sales across the business, not your profit.
When the limit does not matter
Some kinds of selling need GST registration from the very first sale, whatever your turnover. The one that catches most small sellers: supplying goods to a buyer in another state needs registration from the first sale.
If you plan to ship goods to customers outside your state — including through an online marketplace — check this before your first order, not after.
When registering early is worth it
Below the limit, registering is optional. It is often worth doing anyway:
- Business customers ask for your GSTIN. A business that buys from you can only claim back the GST it paid if you are registered and charge it on a tax invoice. Many will not buy from an unregistered supplier at all.
- You get back the GST you pay. A registered business can claim input tax credit on what it buys for the business. An unregistered one simply pays GST on its purchases as a cost. (The lesson on input tax credit explains how.)
- It makes you look established. For a bank, a marketplace, or a larger customer, a GSTIN is evidence the business is real.
When staying out is worth it
- You sell mostly to households, who cannot claim GST back. Registering means adding GST to your prices or absorbing it from your margin.
- You are well under the limit and want to keep paperwork light. Registration means monthly or quarterly returns from then on — even in a month with no sales.
Somewhere in between is the composition scheme: registered, with simpler returns, but you cannot charge GST or pass credit to your customers. The lesson after next compares the two.
What it costs and what you need
Registration is free on the GST portal. Keep ready: PAN, Aadhaar of the owner (or partners or directors), a photograph, proof of the business address, and a cancelled cheque or bank statement. The name and address must match exactly across PAN, address proof and bank proof — a mismatch is the commonest reason an application gets a query.
The registration checklists below have the full document list for GST, and for Udyam, FSSAI and shop registration beside it.
Rules checked on 23 September 2026 against gst.gov.in.