What is GST?
Goods and Services Tax, commonly known as GST, is an indirect form of tax. GST has been introduced to replace several other indirect taxes such as Value Added Tax (VAT), service taxes, excise duty, etc. The GST came into effect on 1st July 2017 upon passing the Goods and Service Tax Act in Parliament.
GST is a single domestic tax law that applies to the whole country. It exhaustively taxes various goods and services (products) across the nation at every destination where value is added to the product. In other words, instead of applying different kinds of indirect taxes (e.g. VAT, excise duty etc.) at each destination of the product (e.g. manufacturing, warehousing, retailing etc.), a common overall tax (i.e. GST) is applied. A “destination” in this context refers to the point of sale of the product, while “value addition” refers to the increase in profit across buyers and suppliers of the product.
There are also a few different forms of GST applied within India as follows:
- CGST refers to the subtype of GST charged by the Central Government on the goods and services within a state (e.g. sales within Kerala).
- SGST refers to the subtype of GST charged by the State Government on the goods and services within a state (e.g. sales within Kerala).
- IGST refers to the subtype of GST charged by the Central Government on the goods and services between states (e.g. sales within Kerala).
Now that we properly understand the answer to “what is GST?” we would fare better knowing about the concepts of GST certificates and methods of GST certificate downloads.
GST Certificate
A Goods and Services Tax registration certificate (GST certificate) in India is an official document that serves as proof of being registered under GST. This is only applicable to and mandatory for organisations that process revenues surpassing the threshold limit of GST registration (typically Rs.20-40 lakhs).
When a taxpayer is registered under GST, they are issued a GST registration certificate in the GST REG-06 form. The only way to access this certificate is through download from the GST portal, as we will see in a bit. The taxpayer is then required to display this certification at his business site and any other place listed within the Form GST REG-06. The certificate does not have an expiration date, yet any failure to comply with displaying the certificate after registration will incur a penalty of Rs.25,000.
Downloading GST Certificates
As mentioned, GST certificate downloads can be performed easily using the GST portal. Once a proper officer processes the user application, the registration will be approved, and the registration certificate will become effective. The government does not provide a physical certificate, but the online download process is as follows:
- Login onto the GST portal
- Choose “View/Download Certificate” under “User Services” of the “Services” bar.
- Select the “Download” option
In this manner, the GST certificate can be downloaded and printed to utilise it as per the directions given.
