If you’re running a small shop, wholesale outfit or service business in India, GST is one of those things you can either spend a week trying to understand — or pick up gradually and stay slightly confused forever. This guide is the short version: enough to know what you need, what you don’t, and what’s about to change.
Do I even need to register for GST?
You need GST registration if your annual turnover is above ₹40 lakh for goods (₹20 lakh for services), with lower thresholds for special-category states. Inter-state sellers and e-commerce sellers must register regardless of turnover.
If you’re below the threshold, registration is optional — but voluntary registration often makes sense once you sell to other businesses, since it lets them claim input tax credit from your invoices.
The GST slabs you actually deal with
- 0% — essentials, unbranded food grains, milk, books.
- 5% — packaged food, footwear, transport services.
- 12% — processed food, mobile phones, some textile items.
- 18% — the standard rate; most goods and services.
- 28% — luxury and sin goods.
For each item you sell, Bahify lets you pick the HSN code once; it then auto-applies the correct slab everywhere.
The forms you’ll actually file
GSTR-1 is your monthly (or quarterly, depending on turnover) outward-supplies return. GSTR-3B is the summary return where you pay the tax. GSTR-9 is the annual return.
If your billing software is honest about the data it captures, all three are mostly auto-generated. If it isn’t, you spend a Saturday every quarter cleaning up spreadsheets.
E-invoicing — when does it kick in?
E-invoicing is currently mandatory for businesses with turnover above ₹5 crore. If you’re smaller than that, you don’t need it — but the threshold has dropped every couple of years, so it’s worth being on a system that supports it whenever you do cross over.
Three pitfalls we see all the time
- Wrong place of supply. If the buyer is in a different state, you charge IGST, not CGST+SGST. Get this wrong on invoices and reconciliation becomes a nightmare.
- Missing HSN codes. Required on every invoice above a turnover threshold. Late additions invite mismatches.
- Issuing credit notes informally. Returns and discounts must go through proper credit notes — not just adjusted in the next bill.
This article is a quick orientation, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk to your CA or a GST practitioner.