Registration required or not

[varsha jain]

Mr X. is having rental income from commercial property of 9 lakhs in F.Y. 2018-19 and interest income from loan given to parties is 12 lakhs. Is he liable to get registration.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

As per entry no. 27 of Notification no. 12/2017-CTR dated 28.06.2017 as amended from time to time the income earned by way of interest from loan given is exempted from GST. The relevant part from the said notification is reproduced below for your reference.

HSN 9971

Services by way of-

(a) extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount (other than interest involved in credit card services);

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Your taxable turnover is below threshold therefore registration is not required.

[varsha jain]

Sir as you said :your taxable turnover is below threshold therefore registration not required

But For the purpose of Registration (Section 22) we have to see Aggregate Turnover.and the definition of Aggregate Turnover includes exempt Supplies.

[KASTURI SETHI]

My views are as under:-

The views of Sh.Ganeshan Kalyani Ji are 100% correct. Threshold exemption is fundamental/constitutional right. It cannot be snatched in the guise of legal language jugglery. However, it is neither the intention of legislature nor Govt. to deny threshold exemption to very small service provider. Turnover of 20 lakhs is nothing for earning bread and butter. People are victim of department's phobia.

Further, we are to restrict to Section 22 only. (Not any circular/flyer) Section 22 does not specifically mention that exempted services or goods are part of threshold exemption limit.

As per Explanation to Section 22 the expression “aggregate turnover” shall include all supplies made by the taxable person, whether on his own account or made on behalf of all his principals;

(107) “taxable person” means a person who is registered or liable to be registered under section 22 or section 24;

In my view, all supplies means supplies of all the units of one company/firm. Here it means clubbing as it was used to be in pre-GST era. Clubbing turnover on his account or on behalf of all principals. Emphasis is on ALL. It is not all kinds of supplies. All within this Section/Explanation.

Section 24 is not applicable here.

As per Section 2(107) of CGST Act, 'taxable person' is that person who is liable to be registered. In this scenario, the person becomes liable to be registered only after crossing threshold exemption limit of taxable service and not exempted services or voluntarily registered person.

That is a separate issue if a person is registered, he will avail ITC which is also not free like a bird but restricted/blocked under Section 17(5). Who will like to be chained by Section 17(5) when the person is within threshold exemption ?

Illustration : If a person has supplied taxable service of ₹ 1000/- and exempted service of ₹ 19,99, 001/- in a year, can that person be forced to apply for registration under Section 22 on the plea that he has crossed threshold of twenty lakhs ? If so, it is gross injustice with that person. Threshold is allowed by Govt. because that person is small service provider.

If we include turnover of exempted service into threshold limit, the very purpose of granting threshold exemption to small service provider is defeated.

If any person has any doubt, one should opt for AAR, rather than losing threshold exemption right. The facility of Advance Ruling is far cheaper than that cost of litigation.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Sri Kasturi Sir, Thanks a lot for clarifying the query in a very detailed manner. It clears the air.

[varsha jain]

Respected Sir, thankyou for such a detailed Explanation. I request you to pls give your View on Explanation 1 to Section 22.Which reads as Follows:

Explanation.––For the purposes of this sub-section, a person shall be considered to be engaged exclusively in the supply of goods even if he is engaged in exempt supply of services provided by way of extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount.]

AI Summary

GST registration threshold: exempt interest income excluded, registration depends on taxable turnover exceeding the threshold.
Interest on loans is an exempt service; the key issue is whether aggregate turnover for GST registration includes exempt supplies. One view treats the threshold as applying to taxable turnover only, preserving small supplier exemption; another relies on the Explanation that aggregate turnover includes all supplies, which would require clubbing exempt and taxable receipts for registration. Where taxable turnover remains below the threshold, registration should not be required for suppliers whose receipts are exempt interest, and uncertainty may be resolved by seeking an advance ruling.