Question 1

Are there any hidden charges for new GST registration?

Accepted Answer

No. The fee quoted before we start is the fee you pay. Government fees, portal charges or statutory late fees, where they apply, are separate and disclosed to you in advance with the exact amount. We issue a proper GST invoice for our professional fee. If the scope of work changes — for example, an unexpected notice or additional periods — we tell you the revised fee before doing anything further.

Question 2

What is the process for new GST registration?

Accepted Answer

The process runs in clear stages: Document collection; Application preparation; Filing and Aadhaar authentication; Query handling. A senior consultant reviews your file at each stage rather than passing it to a data-entry desk, and you receive a confirmation with the filed documents once it is complete. You always know which stage your work is at — we update you on WhatsApp instead of leaving you to follow up.

Question 3

Is Aadhaar authentication compulsory for GST registration?

Accepted Answer

Aadhaar authentication is not compulsory, but it is strongly recommended. When the promoter and authorised signatory complete Aadhaar OTP authentication, the application is processed on the fast track and deemed approval applies if the officer does not act within seven working days. Without Aadhaar authentication, the department treats the application as higher risk, physical verification of the business premises is usually ordered, and approval can take up to thirty days. Most applicants in Thousand Lights finish the OTP step in minutes, so there is rarely a reason to skip it unless the Aadhaar-linked mobile number is inactive.

Question 4

I am below the GST threshold, but I pay freight under RCM heads. Must I register?

Accepted Answer

Section 24(iii) makes registration compulsory for persons required to pay tax under reverse charge, without any threshold benefit. So if you receive notified supplies such as GTA freight, advocate services or sponsorship, liability to register can arise even with modest turnover. Note, though, that where the relevant RCM entry itself exempts supplies made to unregistered recipients, no liability arises until you are otherwise registered. Composition dealers get no relief once registered: they must pay RCM at the full normal rates in cash and cannot claim any credit, making RCM a pure cost for them. Have your expense heads reviewed before assuming you are safe; call +91 - 9600 606 444.

Question 5

How many days does it take to get a GST number?

Accepted Answer

If you complete Aadhaar authentication and the officer raises no query, registration is generally approved within seven working days of submission. If you skip Aadhaar authentication, or the application is flagged for risk, the officer may direct physical verification of your premises and the timeline can extend up to thirty days. If the officer seeks clarification through Form REG-03, you must reply in Form REG-04 within seven working days, after which the application is either approved or rejected. Keeping documents clean and consistent with your PAN records is the single biggest factor in fast approval.

Question 6

What is the GST registration limit for a trader selling goods in Tamil Nadu?

Accepted Answer

In Tamil Nadu, a person engaged exclusively in the supply of goods must register for GST once aggregate turnover in a financial year crosses Rs.40 lakh. Aggregate turnover is computed PAN-wide across India and includes exempt supplies and exports, not just taxable sales. The Rs.40 lakh relaxation does not apply if you make inter-state taxable supplies of goods, sell through an e-commerce operator that collects TCS, or deal in certain notified items, in which case registration becomes mandatory earlier. If your Thousand Lights shop is approaching the limit, apply within thirty days of crossing it.

Question 7

I am putting up a stall at a trade fair in Thousand Lights for two weeks. Do I need GST registration?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A person who occasionally supplies goods or services in a state where they have no fixed place of business is a casual taxable person, and registration is mandatory regardless of turnover, with no threshold exemption for goods suppliers. Apply at least five days before starting business and deposit an advance tax equal to your estimated liability for the exhibition period. The registration is valid for the period you specify, up to ninety days, and can be extended by a further ninety days on request. We regularly arrange casual registrations for exhibitors; call +91 - 9600 606 444 well before your event.

Question 8

What documents are needed for GST registration of a proprietorship?

Accepted Answer

For a sole proprietorship you need the proprietor's PAN card, Aadhaar card, a passport-size photograph, proof of the principal place of business, and bank details such as a cancelled cheque or bank statement. For business premises proof, an electricity bill, property tax receipt or legal ownership document works for owned property, while rented property needs the rent agreement plus the owner's utility bill. No separate business PAN is required because a proprietorship uses the proprietor's own PAN. If you share your documents on WhatsApp, our Thousand Lights team can usually file the application the same day; call +91 - 9600 606 444.

Question 9

What is the GST rate on footwear after the September 2025 rate changes?

Accepted Answer

From 22 September 2025, footwear with a sale value up to Rs.2,500 per pair attracts 5% GST, and footwear priced above Rs.2,500 attracts 18%. This replaced the earlier structure where pairs up to Rs.1,000 were taxed at 12% and costlier pairs at 18%, giving mass-market footwear a genuine rate cut. The threshold works pair-wise on the actual sale value, so the entire value of a pair above Rs.2,500 is taxed at 18%, not just the excess, and a discounted price at or below Rs.2,500 earns the 5% rate. Footwear showrooms should verify their POS slabs; call +91 - 9600 606 444 for help.

Question 10

What happens if my turnover crosses Rs.1.5 crore in the middle of the year?

Accepted Answer

Your composition option lapses from the day aggregate turnover exceeds Rs.1.5 crore, or Rs.50 lakh under the services scheme. You must file Form CMP-04, the intimation of withdrawal, within seven days of the event, start issuing tax invoices and charging GST from that day, and switch to regular returns, GSTR-1 by the 11th and GSTR-3B by the 20th. On the positive side, you can claim input tax credit on stock held on the transition date by filing Form ITC-01 within thirty days. If your Thousand Lights business is nearing the ceiling, plan the switch in advance; call +91 - 9600 606 444 for help.

Question 11

Our Thousand Lights company works only for its foreign parent company. Can this be export of services?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if the entities are separate legal persons. An Indian subsidiary incorporated under the Companies Act and its foreign parent are distinct persons, so services billed to the parent can qualify as export when the other conditions are met, a position confirmed by CBIC Circular 161/17/2021. The bar on establishments of the same person applies to a branch or liaison office serving its own head office abroad, which can never be export. The distinction decides whether your entire revenue is zero-rated or taxable at 18 percent, so structure matters. Call +91 - 9600 606 444 if your group billing needs a review.

Question 12

Our head office in Thousand Lights supports branches in other states. Is a cross-charge invoice really required?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Branches with separate GSTINs are distinct persons, and Schedule I treats supplies between them as taxable even without consideration. Services your head office renders to branches, such as accounting, IT support or management oversight, should be cross-charged through a tax invoice with IGST, which the branch claims as credit. On valuation, Rule 28 helps: where the recipient branch is entitled to full ITC, the value declared on the invoice is deemed to be the open market value, and Circular 199/11/2023 clarifies that internally generated services need not include the salary cost of head office employees. A documented cross-charge policy keeps audits short; call +91 - 9600 606 444 to set one up.

Question 13

I deposited money under the wrong head in my GST cash ledger. Why can the amount not be used?

Accepted Answer

The cash ledger is divided into major heads, IGST, CGST, SGST and cess, and minor heads, tax, interest, penalty, fee and others. An amount deposited under one combination, say CGST-penalty, cannot be directly used to pay under another, say IGST-tax, which is why your balance appears unusable despite money lying in the ledger. The remedy is Form PMT-09, which transfers the amount to the correct head instantly without any officer approval. Many Thousand Lights taxpayers wrongly deposit a fresh challan in this situation; a two-minute PMT-09 filing saves that duplication. Call +91 - 9600 606 444 if your ledger looks stuck.

Question 14

Something is malfunctioning on the GST portal. How do I raise a formal grievance ticket?

Accepted Answer

Use the GST Self-Service Grievance Redressal Portal at selfservice.gstsystem.in. Select Report Issue, type a keyword describing the problem, and the system suggests the matching category along with FAQs; if those do not resolve it, proceed to raise the ticket by entering your GSTIN or ARN, contact details and a description, and attach screenshots of the error. A ticket reference number is issued instantly by email and SMS. Raising a ticket also creates a record that the failure was on the system side, which helps later if a deadline was missed because of a portal outage. Our Thousand Lights office logs tickets for clients as part of retainer support.

Question 15

How much time do I get to raise an invoice for services?

Accepted Answer

A tax invoice for services must be issued within thirty days from the date of supply of the service. For banks, insurers, financial institutions and NBFCs, the limit is forty-five days. Where services are supplied continuously, the invoice follows the contract: if the due date of payment is ascertainable, invoice on or before that date; if not, invoice when payment is received; and if payment is linked to completion of an event or milestone, invoice on or before its completion. Consultants and agencies that bill quarterly should check their contracts against these rules, since late invoicing defers nothing legally.

Question 16

Which daily-use grocery items became cheaper under GST from September 2025?

Accepted Answer

The 56th GST Council's rationalisation, effective 22 September 2025, moved a large basket of daily essentials from 12% or 18% down to 5%, including butter, ghee, cheese, namkeens, sauces, pasta, chocolates, biscuits, cornflakes, hair oil, shampoo, soaps and toothpaste. UHT milk, pre-packaged paneer and all Indian breads such as roti, chapati and paratha became nil rated. Aerated and caffeinated beverages, by contrast, went to the 40% demerit rate. Grocery and supermarket billing masters needed a near-complete refresh from that date, and old stock is simply sold at the new rate applicable on the date of supply.

Question 17

What are OIDAR services under GST and who pays the tax on them?

Accepted Answer

OIDAR means Online Information Database Access or Retrieval services, delivered over the internet, such as cloud services, e-books, streaming, online advertising and automated e-learning. When a foreign OIDAR provider supplies these to unregistered persons in India, the foreign provider itself must take a simplified registration in Form REG-10 and file monthly return GSTR-5A. From 1 October 2023, the definition was widened, so almost every unregistered Indian recipient is covered. When the Indian recipient is GST-registered, the tax instead falls on the recipient under reverse charge as an import of services.

Question 18

I declare income under Section 44ADA. Does that mean I am exempt from GST?

Accepted Answer

No, this is a common myth. Section 44ADA is a presumptive taxation scheme under the Income Tax Act that lets professionals declare fifty percent of gross receipts as income; it has nothing to do with GST. GST liability depends solely on aggregate turnover crossing the registration threshold and the nature of your supplies. In fact, the two departments now cross-match data, so gross receipts reported in your ITR and Form 26AS that exceed the GST turnover you declared are a known trigger for notices. Treat the two laws as parallel obligations, each with its own limits and filings.

Question 19

How long does new GST registration take in Thousand Lights?

Accepted Answer

3-7 working days. That assumes your documents are complete and there is no departmental query. We start the same day we receive your papers and tell you the realistic completion date upfront rather than an optimistic one. Where the GST portal or the officer causes delay — clarifications, physical verification or system issues — we track it daily and keep you informed on WhatsApp.

Question 20

Do you provide new gst registration for small businesses and proprietorships in Thousand Lights?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A large share of our clients in Thousand Lights are proprietors, small traders, shop owners, freelancers and family businesses rather than large companies. The fee of Rs.1,499 and the process are the same regardless of size, and we explain the compliance position in plain language — in Tamil or English — so you understand what is being filed on your behalf and why.

Question 21

Which GST office handles Thousand Lights businesses?

Accepted Answer

Businesses in Thousand Lights (PIN 600006) generally fall under the CGST Chennai North Commissionerate, with state-jurisdiction cases handled by the Tamil Nadu Commercial Taxes Department. Your exact division and range can be confirmed from your GSTIN on the GST portal. We regularly appear before this jurisdiction for registrations, clarifications and hearings, so we know the local practice and documentation preferences.

Aspect	With ChennaiGST	DIY / Unattended
Goods in transit	E-way bills generated correctly and matched to invoices, so consignments pass roadside inspections without detention or penalty.	A defective or missing e-way bill can mean detention at a checkpoint, with penalties that dwarf the tax on the consignment.
Refund claims	RFD-01 filed with complete statements and annexures, tracked from ARN to bank credit, with any deficiency memo answered promptly.	Incomplete claims bounce back as deficiency memos while the refund sits unclaimed for months and working capital stays blocked.
Time cost	Roughly an hour a month to send data and approve drafts; the portal work, reconciliation and follow-up are ours.	Hours every month lost to portal errors, JSON files, OTP failures and reworking figures — usually on the due date itself.
Registration and amendments	Query-resistant applications prepared correctly the first time, with supporting documents matched to what proper officers actually verify.	Repeated clarification memos and resubmissions, with weeks lost because a rent agreement or premises photograph did not meet expectations.
When a notice arrives	A professional drafts the reply in the department's format and files it within the statutory window, such as thirty days for ASMT-11.	You face departmental language alone, and a missed reply deadline can convert a simple query into a demand with penalty.
Due-date tracking	A maintained compliance calendar with internal cut-offs days before the 11th and the 20th; we chase you for data, not the other way around.	Deadlines remembered from memory or phone alarms; one busy week and the return slips past the due date.

New GST Registration on Greams Lane, Thousand Lights

Get a Free GST Consultation

Trade Profile and GST Jurisdiction for Greams Lane, Thousand Lights

Why Greams Lane, Thousand Lights Businesses Choose ChennaiGST

Support in Tamil and English

A Real Local Office You Can Walk Into

Advisory, Not Just Data Entry

Clean Exits When a Business Closes

Multi-GSTIN and Branch Coordination

Waiver and Amnesty Windows Applied for You

Our GST Registration Process

Document collection

Application preparation

Filing and Aadhaar authentication

Query handling

GSTIN delivery and handover

Documents Required for New GST Registration

What New GST Registration Costs in Thousand Lights

What You Get

A Written Trail for Every Decision

A Professional Face on Every Invoice

The Lowest Tax Position the Law Allows

Confidence During Officer Interactions

Bank and Tender Readiness

Reduced Dependence on One Employee

With ChennaiGST vs Doing It Yourself

GST Support on Greams Lane, Thousand Lights

Recent Developments in GST — relevant to Thousand Lights businesses

Geocoding of business address made available across India

Association maintenance taxed on the whole amount once the limit is crossed

E-way bill rules first written into the CGST Rules

Frequently Asked Questions

Related GST Services & Nearby Areas

Ready to Sort Out Your GST?