Last updated: March 10th, 2020 12:02 PM

What is GST Transitional Provisions?

GST transition provisions deal with the migration of taxpayers registered under service tax or VAT or central excise to GST. Under the transitional provisions, every person having a PAN must be issued a GST certificate on a provisional basis until its replaced by a final GST registration certificate. Hence, as per the GST transitional provisions, all existing taxpayers registered under various regulations must be migrated to GST. Over the last few months, thousands of Entrepreneurs have contacted us with regards to migration to GST. In this article, we provide some of the FAQs we received on transitional provisions with answers.

What is GST provisional certificate?

GST provisional certificate will be valid for a period of six months on or after the date of its issue. However, the validity period for the GST Provisional Certificate may extend for an additional period upon providing proper reason with supportive documents and after the approval of the GST Council.

When will the provisional registration be converted into final registration?

A person with the provisional registration must complete the GST migration procedure on the GST portal to receive the final GST registration certificate and GSTIN.

Is GST migration mandatory persons having service tax or VAT or central excise registration? 

Yes, all persons having a service tax or VAT or central excise registration must mandatorily complete the GST migration formalities.   Click here to read on GST Location of Supplier and Recipient  

What will be the status of the provisional registration of a composite dealer?

Even an existing composite taxpayer should apply for composition tax under GST as the registration may not accept the receipt of a provisional certificate as an automatic transition to the composition scheme.

Can a VAT dealer opt for composition scheme following the time prescribed?

When a registered taxable person does not opt for composition scheme in the time approved, he will be legally responsible to pay tax under standard provisions.

What happens in case taxpayers have divergent VAT registrations in the same State?

The transitional provisions would assign one registration certificate in every State based on PAN still though formerly such person had many registrations in a State, if not they qualify as distinct business verticals under the GST law.

What happens where distinctive registrations are availed under the Central Excise or Service Tax law for distinct units or business premises located in a single State?

As per GST, the rules of the law shall combine all the units or business premises registered under Central Excise or Service Tax law CGST registration for State, upon non-qualification of distinctive business verticals related to the GST law. Click here to register Private Limited Company, Public Limited Company or One Person Company