Turnover crossed 40 lakh — registration time

The shop lights are still on at 10:40 pm. You have added the last cash sale in the red notebook. The calculator shows a number you have been avoiding all year: the running total for this financial year has crossed forty lakh rupees. Your helper is packing the last crate. The lane is quiet. You are the only person thinking about GST.

Forty lakh is the figure most kirana and hardware shops hear first. Goods, services, mixed sales, and your state all change the answer. The GST portal will not message you the night you cross the line. You notice the total, then apply on gst.gov.in.

Forty lakh is not the same rule for every shop

For many people who sell only goods inside one state, the registration threshold that shops talk about is forty lakh rupees of aggregate turnover in a financial year. That is the number on the shop board, the number the neighbouring trader quotes, and the number that made you open this page.

Aggregate turnover is not “today’s cash in the drawer”. It is a yearly total across all supplies linked to your PAN, including taxable sales, exempt sales, and exports, with a few legal exclusions that a local helper can explain for your case. If you run two counters under the same PAN, you do not get two separate limits. You add them.

If you also sell services — installation, repair contracts, design, tuition at the back of the shop — the picture often changes. Service providers in most states sit on a twenty lakh threshold, not forty. Mixed goods-and-services shops usually follow the services-side limit, not the goods-only forty lakh figure. Do not assume you still have “room” because the hardware counter alone is under forty.

If your state is a notified special-category state, the limit can be lower. Lists have moved over the years. If you are unsure which bucket your district sits in, check the current official notification on gst.gov.in or cbic.gov.in this month rather than copying a WhatsApp forward from 2019.

Goods versus services, in plain shop language

A goods-only trader in a state that uses the forty lakh limit can often wait until that total is crossed. A repair workshop that bills labour as a service, or a shop that invoices both parts and labour, should not wait for forty lakh. For them the common working figure is twenty lakh in most states, and ten lakh in a short list of states. Confirm the current official table for your state.

Interstate supply of taxable goods is a separate trap. Many shops think they can send a carton to another state without a GSTIN because they are under forty lakh. That is often wrong. Compulsory registration can apply even when turnover is still small. Interstate services have their own exemption notifications. If you sell across a state border, open the latest official note, or sit with a local helper and your invoices.

Casual taxable persons, people who must pay tax under reverse charge in notified cases, and a few other categories also have compulsory registration that ignores the forty lakh story. Treat the threshold as the second question, not the first.

Voluntary registration is not a licence to hide sales

You can apply even before you cross the limit. That is voluntary registration. Some shops do it because a buyer insists on a GSTIN, or because they want to claim input tax credit on purchases, or because they already send goods interstate. Voluntary is legal. It is not a shortcut to skip tax.

Compulsory registration is the other side: the law says you must apply once you become liable, usually within thirty days of becoming liable. “I will apply next Diwali” is not a plan. The portal clock and the legal clock both start from the date you became liable, not from the date you felt ready.

Hiding turnover is the worst option on the list. Under-billing, two sets of books, or “cash sales we will add later” is tax evasion. GST Atka will not help you design that. If the real number has crossed the limit, the honest move is to apply and start issuing tax invoices the way a registered person must.

How to start the application on the portal

Open only https://www.gst.gov.in. Bookmark it. Look-alike sites exist.

Path for a new registration:

gst.gov.in → Services → Registration → New Registration

You will first get a Temporary Reference Number (TRN) after the mobile and email OTP. Save the TRN on paper, not only on a phone that may die. With the TRN you log in again and fill Part B: business details, principal place of business, promoters, authorised signatory, and bank. Aadhaar authentication, where offered, is the faster route for many small applicants. After submit you get an Application Reference Number (ARN). Track it here:

gst.gov.in → Services → Registration → Track Application Status

Keep PAN, proof of principal place, photograph, and bank proof ready before you start. A rejected address proof at midnight is a miserable way to learn that the document was in someone else’s name. If the officer asks for clarification, answer on the portal. Do not ignore the query mail.

What to do in the week you realise you have crossed

Freeze an honest yearly total from the notebooks you actually run. Do not invent a lower figure. If even a slice of billing is a service, you may already be late relative to the twenty lakh line — check official. Apply. Do not wait for a notice. Registration after the due window does not wipe earlier liability.

Once you have a GSTIN, file the returns that apply. A new registrant who stays silent on the Returns Dashboard is not safe. Nil returns still need filing when there is no tax:

gst.gov.in → Services → Returns → Returns Dashboard

Pick the financial year and period, then open the return the dashboard offers.

Do not count only GST-paid purchases and ignore cash counter sales. The threshold looks at your supplies. April to March is one financial-year bucket. Composition is a later choice for some registered people, with its own cap — crossing forty lakh answers “must I register?”, not “which scheme do I pick?”. Asking a buyer to bill in someone else’s GSTIN so your turnover stays low is misuse. Do not do it.

After GSTIN, issue tax invoices with HSN or SAC, rate, and tax. Do not issue a plain bill for taxable sales as if you were still unregistered. If a rate is unclear, check this month’s official schedule. If you are already late, still apply. A local helper can compute from which date you were liable. GST Atka cannot see your books.

FAQ

Does every goods shop in India get the forty lakh limit?

No. The forty lakh figure is for eligible goods-only suppliers in states that adopted that higher threshold. Some states keep a lower limit for goods. Services and mixed supplies usually use twenty lakh in most states. Confirm your state’s current official position before you wait.

I crossed forty lakh last month. Can I wait until the financial year ends?

If you are liable, waiting until 31 March is not a safe hobby. The usual legal window is to apply within thirty days of becoming liable. File on gst.gov.in. If you have already missed the window, apply now and get local help for the earlier period. Do not hide the extra sales.

Can I register voluntarily at twenty-five lakh because a company buyer wants a GSTIN?

Yes, voluntary registration is allowed. Once registered, you follow registered-person rules: tax invoices, returns, and payment. You do not get to stay “half unregistered” for cash customers. Do not under-report those sales.

What if I keep two notebooks so GST turnover never shows forty lakh?

That is evasion. Do not do it. The portal, bank trails, e-way bills, and buyer filings can still show the real figure. Register on the real turnover and file on gst.gov.in.

GST Atka is not a GSTN office. File on gst.gov.in. Rules change. Do not evade tax. Personal case: get local help.