Question

Whether an exporter of services is required to get itself registered under GST if its aggregate turnover does not exceed Rs. 20 lakh in a year.Pl. give the reason for your answer.
If the exporter of services does not get itself registered under GST, even after its aggregate turnover exceeds Rs. 20 lakhs,and continue to export its services, what would be the consequences under GST laws. Pl. give reference of relevant sections/notifications.
Whether the requirement of GST laws is to get itself registered if aggregate turnover exceed Rs. 20 lakh in a year or expected to exceed Rs. 20 lakh in a year. If the supplier is to get itself registered after aggregate turnover exceed Rs. 20 lakh in a year, whether GST has to be paid even on the amount upto 20 lakh after registration.
 

Answer

Facts of the Case: Exporter exceeds the aggregate turnover of 20 Lakh. To decide whether mandatory registration is required for him.

Law Applicable:
(i) Section 24 registration is compulsory for;
"persons making any inter-State taxable supply"

(ii) Notification 10/2017 IGST exempts service provider as follows
"persons making inter-State supplies of taxable services and having an aggregate turnover not exceeding an amount of twenty lakh rupees in a financial year as the category of persons exempted from obtaining registration under the said Act"

Interpretation:
Exporter of service is in course of making inter state taxable supply since export is zero rated supply. Therefore section 24 requires mandatory registration. However notification 10/2017 IGST exempts service provider making inter state taxable supply of services as person exempt from requirement of section 24 if aggregate turnover is below 20 Lakh. Following 2 Cases are illustrated:

Case I: Export of services is below 20Lakh
Aggregate turnover is below 20Lakh. No compulsory registration is required. However it is advised to get registration nonetheless to claim refund of taxes on export.

Case II: Export of services is above 20Lakh
Aggregate turnover is above 20Lakh therefore registration is required.

Conclusion:
1. Exporter of service need not get mandatory registration if aggregate turnover does not exceed 20Lakh. However to claim refund of taxes, exporter must get registration.
2. Notice u/s 73 or 74 maybe issued and penalty u/s 122(xi) is leviable at the following amount:
"ten thousand rupees or an amount equivalent to the tax evaded whichever is higher" (Reply dt.02/05/2019)