GST Registration: Who Actually Needs It?

The turnover thresholds

GST registration becomes mandatory once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹40 lakh for a business supplying goods, or ₹20 lakh for services (₹20 lakh and ₹10 lakh respectively in a handful of special category states, including the northeastern states). "Aggregate turnover" is calculated across all your business activities under the same PAN, nationwide — not per state, and not per business line.

Where the threshold doesn't apply

Several categories require registration regardless of turnover: e-commerce sellers and operators, businesses making inter-state taxable supplies, casual taxable persons, and anyone required to pay tax under reverse charge. If you sell through an online marketplace, in particular, the turnover exemption generally doesn't help you — you'll likely need to register from your very first sale.

The mistake we see most often

Business owners frequently under-count their own turnover by looking only at one branch, one product line, or one bank account — when GST law counts everything under the PAN together. A freelancer with ₹15 lakh in consulting income and a small side business doing ₹8 lakh isn't under the ₹20 lakh threshold; combined, they're over it.

Registering voluntarily

Even below the threshold, voluntary registration is sometimes worth it — it lets you claim input tax credit on your own purchases, and larger clients or vendors sometimes simply won't work with an unregistered supplier. It's worth running the numbers rather than assuming staying unregistered is automatically the cheaper option.