What Are the Types of GST Registration in India?

GST registration has eleven categories, and the table below gives each one its governing section and its registration form. Five forms cover all eleven: Form GST REG-01 for a regular taxpayer, a composition dealer, a casual taxable person, an Input Service Distributor, an SEZ unit and a voluntary registrant; Form GST REG-07 for a section 51 tax deductor and a section 52 tax collector; Form GST REG-09 for a non-resident taxable person; Form GST REG-10 for a non-resident online services provider; and Form GST REG-13 for a UN body, embassy or other notified person. The mechanics of how to register for GST are the same in every case.

Five figures decide most cases. The composition ceiling is ₹1.5 crore for goods and ₹50 lakh for services. A casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person each get 90 days. A tax deductor deducts 2% where the value of supply under one contract exceeds ₹2,50,000. A tax collector collects 0.5% of net taxable supplies. Input Service Distributor registration became mandatory on 1 April 2025.

The ₹40 lakh and ₹20 lakh figures in the first row are the ordinary thresholds under section 22(1), and the figure is ₹10 lakh for goods and for services alike in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The statutory chain behind the turnover limit is worked out in full there. Whatever the category, the certificate that issues is Form GST REG-06, under Rule 10 for a Form GST REG-01 applicant and under Rule 12(2), Rule 14(2) and Rule 17(2) for the rest.

The composition scheme is an option exercised inside an ordinary GST registration application, not a registration category of its own. Rule 3(2) of the CGST Rules, 2017 says a person applying under Rule 8(1) "may give an option to pay tax under section 10 in Part B of Form GST REG-01, which shall be considered as an intimation to pay tax under the said section". Rule 4(2) then says that option "shall be considered only after the grant of registration to the applicant". An already-registered person opts in later by filing Form GST CMP-02 before the financial year begins, under Rule 3(3).

On the portal the field is Option for Composition, a Yes or No toggle in the Business Details tab of Part B, sitting beside Are you applying for registration as a casual taxable person?. Both are Yes/No toggles inside the same form, and neither produces a registration of its own.

Section 10(1) sets ₹50 lakh and empowers the Government to raise it to not exceeding ₹1.5 crore. Notification No. 14/2019-Central Tax dated 7 March 2019 exercised that power at ₹1.5 crore, with ₹75 lakh for eight States only: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. Both figures are measured on aggregate turnover in the preceding financial year. Section 10(2A) carries its own ₹50 lakh limit for suppliers of services, which is a statutory figure with no notification behind it.

The trader's base is the turnover of taxable supplies, while the manufacturer's is the whole turnover in the State. The section 10(2A) rate is 3% CGST plus 3% SGST, so the combined figure for a service provider is 6% and the CGST leg alone is 3%.

Sections 10(2)(f) and 10(2A)(e) bar a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person outright. Section 10(2)(c) bars inter-State outward supplies. Section 10(2)(d) no longer bars supplying goods through an electronic commerce operator, because the words "goods or" were omitted by section 137 of the Finance Act 2023, in force 1 October 2023 under Notification No. 28/2023-Central Tax, so the bar now reaches only supplies of services; the identical omission was made in section 10(2A)(c). The proviso to section 10(2) makes composition a PAN-wide election: where more than one registered person holds the same PAN, none may opt in unless all of them do. Exit is Form GST CMP-04 under Rule 6(3).

A casual taxable person has a business in India but no fixed place of business in the State where he wants to supply. A non-resident taxable person has no fixed place of business or residence in India at all. Both categories are defined by occasional supply, in section 2(20) and section 2(77). Both must apply at least 5 days before commencing business under the first proviso to section 25(1). Both get 90 days of validity under section 27(1), extendable once by up to 90 more days. Both must deposit estimated tax in advance under section 27(2). They differ on who they are, not on what they owe.

A casual applicant enters Estimated supplies and Estimated Net Tax Liability, clicks CREATE CHALLAN, and the portal generates a Provisional GSTIN so that the deposit can be made; the acknowledgement in Form GST REG-02 issues only once the deposit reaches the electronic cash ledger, under Rule 8(6). A non-resident applicant's Application Reference Number generates only after the advance tax is paid. The deposit is the applicant's own estimated tax and not a charge for registering, which is the answer to whether the deposit is a fee.

A section 51 deductor and a section 52 collector are different persons doing opposite things, and both apply on Form GST REG-07. A deductor under section 51 is a government department, a local authority, a Governmental agency or a notified person, and deducts tax from what it pays a supplier. A collector under section 52 is an electronic commerce operator, not being an agent, and collects tax out of what it pays a seller. A deductor deducts 2% where the value of supply under one contract exceeds ₹2,50,000 and files Form GSTR-7. A collector collects 0.5% of net taxable supplies and files Form GSTR-8.

Section 51(1) fixes 1% CGST in the section itself and the first proviso to section 20 of the IGST Act, 2017 fixes 2% IGST, so deduction runs 1% CGST plus 1% SGST intra-State and 2% IGST inter-State. Section 52(1) fixes only a ceiling of "not exceeding one per cent" and leaves the rate to notification. Notification No. 52/2018-Central Tax dated 20 September 2018 set half per cent, and Notification No. 15/2024-Central Tax dated 10 July 2024 substituted 0.25 per cent, the IGST leg being substituted the same day by Notification No. 01/2024-Integrated Tax. Both commence on publication in the Gazette, so collection has been 0.25% CGST plus 0.25% SGST, or 0.5% IGST, since 10 July 2024.

Clause (d) of section 51(1) is filled by notification. Notification No. 50/2018-Central Tax dated 13 September 2018 notified, inside that clause, an authority, board or body set up by an Act of Parliament or a State Legislature or established by any Government with 51% or more Government participation by way of equity or control; a society established by the Central or a State Government or a local authority under the Societies Registration Act 1860; and public sector undertakings. It has been amended by 57/2018-Central Tax, 61/2018-Central Tax, 73/2018-Central Tax and Notification No. 25/2024-Central Tax dated 9 October 2024, which from 10 October 2024 added any registered person receiving metal scrap of Chapters 72 to 81 from another registered person, and carved that category out of the deductor-to-deductor exemption.

The proviso to section 25(6) lets a deductor register on a TAN in lieu of a PAN, which no collector may do, and Form GST REG-07 Part A carries a TAN field for exactly that; Rule 12(1A) lets either register in a State where it has no physical presence, naming that State in Part A and the State of its principal place of business in Part B. The proviso to section 51(1) switches deduction off where the supplier's location and the place of supply are in a State different from the recipient's State of registration. The deductor issues a certificate in Form GSTR-7A under Rule 66(3), and the collector issues none.

Input Service Distributor registration became mandatory on 1 April 2025. Section 20(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, as substituted by section 12 of the Finance (No. 8) Act, 2024, says an office receiving input-service invoices for or on behalf of distinct persons "shall be required to be registered as Input Service Distributor under clause (viii) of section 24". Before that substitution, an ISD registration was a facility a business could choose. An Input Service Distributor applies on Form GST REG-01, but by a separate application under the proviso to Rule 8(1), and receives a distinct GSTIN.

Rule 39(1)(a) requires credit available in a month to be distributed in the same month. Rule 39(1)(i) and (j) require IGST to go out as IGST, and CGST and SGST to go out as CGST and SGST within the State and as IGST outside it. Rule 54(1) prescribes the contents of the Input Service Distributor invoice, which has no form number of its own. Rule 39 was wholly substituted with effect from 1 April 2025 by Notification No. 12/2024-Central Tax dated 10 July 2024, appointed by Notification No. 09/2025-Central Tax dated 11 February 2025, and section 2(61) was substituted with effect from 1 April 2024 and amended again from 1 April 2025 to bring IGST reverse-charge invoices into the ISD net.

No notification, circular or CBIC FAQ addresses three questions that follow from the substitution: whether an ISD registration taken before 1 April 2025 continues without a fresh application, what follows for a business that has received common input-service invoices since that date without an ISD registration, and whether the cross-charge alternative survives the substitution. On the New Registration form, selecting Input Service Distributor only under Reason to obtain registration is how an ISD registration is applied for, and selecting Yes under Option for registration under Rule 14A disables that option.

An e-commerce seller and an e-commerce operator need different registrations under different clauses of section 24. A seller supplying through a platform that collects tax at source registers as a regular taxpayer under section 24(ix), on Form GST REG-01. An operator required to collect tax at source registers as a tax collector under section 24(x), on Form GST REG-07. One platform may hold both, a regular GSTIN for its own supplies and a Form GST REG-07 registration for collection. A composition dealer may sell goods through such a platform since 1 October 2023, but not services.

Collection is 0.25% CGST plus 0.25% SGST under Notification No. 15/2024-Central Tax, or 0.5% IGST under Notification No. 01/2024-Integrated Tax, in both cases since 10 July 2024. On the composition point, section 137 of the Finance Act 2023 omitted "goods or" from section 10(2)(d) with effect from 1 October 2023, but Notification No. 36/2023-Central Tax dated 4 August 2023 requires the operator to block any inter-State supply by that dealer and to collect tax at source on his supplies all the same, which lands in his electronic cash ledger and cannot be set off against composition tax. A small seller supplying goods intra-State through such a platform has a ₹20 lakh ceiling under Notification No. 34/2023-Central Tax, and the rest of what a platform seller must do belongs to e-commerce sellers. The simplified registration scheme for small suppliers supplying through electronic commerce operators across multiple States was approved in principle only by the 56th GST Council on 3 September 2025, and the press release records that "the detailed modalities for operationalizing the said scheme will be placed before GST Council"; no implementing notification exists as at 24 August 2026, so it carries no start date.

Reason to obtain registration is a drop-down in the Business Details section of PART B, and it is a different field from the I am a drop-down in Part A. Part A's I am a list fixes the taxpayer type: Taxpayer, Tax Deductor, Tax Collector, Non Resident Taxable Person, Non-Resident Online Services Provider, United Nation Body, Consulate or Embassy of Foreign Country, Other Notified Person. Part B's Reason to obtain registration then records why a Taxpayer is registering: Input Service Distributor only, SEZ Unit, SEZ Developer, Voluntary Basis, or corporate insolvency. Selecting Taxpayer in Part A is what the query "what is taxpayer in GST registration" is asking about.

• Taxpayer produces Form GST REG-01.
• Tax Deductor and Tax Collector each produce Form GST REG-07.
• Non Resident Taxable Person produces Form GST REG-09.
• Non-Resident Online Services Provider produces Form GST REG-10.
• United Nation Body, Consulate or Embassy of Foreign Country and Other Notified Person each produce Form GST REG-13.

SEZ Unit and SEZ Developer each require the Name of SEZ, the Designation of Approving Authority, the Approval Order Number and a Period of Validity, with the Letter of Approval or Letter of Permission uploaded, and the second proviso to section 25(1) requires the SEZ unit or developer to take a separate registration from its non-SEZ place of business in the same State. Selecting Yes under Option for registration under Rule 14A disables Input Service Distributor only. Voluntary Basis is section 25(3), and selecting it disables the Date on which liability to register arises field, which shows that voluntary registration is a reason rather than a type. The insolvency value reads in full Corporate Debtor undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process with IRP/RP.

One PAN can hold many GSTINs, and the 13th digit of a GSTIN is the count of registrations that PAN holds in that State. Section 25(1) requires a separate application in every State or Union territory where a person is liable. Section 25(2) grants a single registration per State, but its proviso allows a separate registration for each place of business in a State, subject to Rule 11. Rule 11(1)(b) sets the price of doing so: no separately registered place of business may pay tax under section 10 if any other pays tax under section 9.

• Rule 11(2) requires a separate application on Form GST REG-01 for each place of business, which is the same form filed again rather than a different form.
• The Explanation to Rule 11(1)(b) provides that if one separately registered place of business becomes ineligible for section 10, all other registered places of business of that person become ineligible too.
• The proviso to section 10(2) makes composition a PAN-wide election, so where more than one registered person holds the same PAN, none may opt in unless all of them do.
• Rule 14A(3) overrides Rule 11 for its own purposes: a person registered under Rule 14A in a State cannot obtain another Rule 14A registration in that State against the same PAN.

A joint venture with its own PAN takes its own registration. A joint venture without one cannot register, because section 25(6) makes a PAN a precondition, and the only exceptions to it are the section 51 TAN proviso and the section 25(7) exemption for a non-resident taxable person.

Rule 14A and Rule 9A are registration routes, not taxpayer categories, and both took effect on 1 November 2025 under Notification No. 18/2025-Central Tax dated 31 October 2025. Rule 14A is an optional simplified route a small applicant elects on the registration form itself, at the Option for registration under Rule 14A field in the Business Details section of PART B. Rule 9A is the automated grant of registration to a low-risk applicant. Neither creates a new category: an applicant on either route still registers on Form GST REG-01 and still picks a category above.

GSTN's FORM GST REG-01 user manual: "select Yes if the output tax liability is less than or equal to ₹2.5 lakhs per month"

Rule 14A(1), CGST Rules 2017: "Any person who has made application for registration under rule 8 and who determines that his total output tax liability on supply of goods or services or both made to registered persons on account of central tax and State tax or Union territory tax and integrated tax and compensation cess, does not exceed two lakh and fifty thousand rupees per month, shall have an option to get registration electronically, in accordance with the provisions of this rule."

The manual's sentence does not carry the words made to registered persons, so an applicant who follows it measures total output tax, B2C included, and never smaller than the output tax on supplies made to registered persons that Rule 14A(1) actually caps, with the result that an applicant whose total exceeds ₹2,50,000 may conclude he is ineligible even though his output tax on supplies made to registered persons is within the cap and Rule 14A(1) would admit him. The Option for registration under Rule 14A is worked out in full there, with the compensation-cess point and a worked illustration.

Selecting Yes for Rule 14A disables Input Service Distributor only under Reason to obtain registration. The same selection makes Yes for Aadhaar authentication mandatory. Only one Rule 14A registration is possible per State against the same PAN, under Rule 14A(3). The Rule 14A declaration is not reflected in FORM REG-32. GSTN's own manual records all four behaviours.

The return you file is decided by the registration category, not by your turnover. A regular taxpayer files Form GSTR-1 and Form GSTR-3B. A composition dealer files Form GST CMP-08 quarterly and Form GSTR-4 annually. A non-resident taxable person files Form GSTR-5, an OIDAR supplier Form GSTR-5A, an Input Service Distributor Form GSTR-6, a tax deductor Form GSTR-7, a tax collector Form GSTR-8, and a UIN holder Form GSTR-11. Choosing the wrong category at registration therefore commits you to the wrong return.

Sections 22 to 30 and the registration rules carry the whole of registration law, and every REG form from REG-01 to REG-33 is indexed against the provision that creates it.