GST Registration Revocation

Why registrations get cancelled

Understanding the ground matters, because the officer will only restore the registration once the underlying default is cured.

• Returns not filed for a continuous period — six months for a regular taxpayer, three consecutive tax periods for a composition dealer
• Registration obtained by fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression of facts
• Business not conducted from the declared place of business
• Invoices issued without an actual supply of goods or services
• Contravention of the Act or the rules made under it
• Failure to commence business within six months of voluntary registration

The time limit — and why it is the whole ballgame

This is where most applications fail, so it is worth being precise. The application in Form GST REG-21 must be filed within ninety days of the date the cancellation order is served. That ninety-day window applies to cancellation orders from 1 October 2023 onward; earlier orders ran on a thirty-day limit that could be extended.

The Commissioner, or an officer authorised by them, may extend the period by a further ninety days, taking the outer limit to one hundred and eighty days. The extension is discretionary and you must show sufficient cause — it is not granted for the asking.

Where the limit has genuinely expired, the remaining routes are an appeal under Section 107 to the Appellate Authority, or an amnesty window if the government has notified one. Both are harder and slower than applying in time, which is why a cancellation order should never be left sitting.

What has to be cleared before you apply

An application filed without curing the default will be rejected. Where the cancellation was for non-filing, Rule 23 requires that all pending returns be furnished and the tax, interest, penalty and late fee paid before the revocation application is made.

• File every outstanding GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B up to the date of the cancellation order
• Pay the tax due, with interest under Section 50 and the applicable late fee
• For a cancellation with retrospective effect, file the returns for the whole period covered by the order
• Reconcile the electronic credit and cash ledgers so the liability figures tie out

What happens after you apply

The officer has thirty days from the application to act, and there are only two directions it can go.

• If satisfied, the officer passes an order in Form GST REG-22 revoking the cancellation, and the GSTIN becomes active again with effect from the date of cancellation
• If not satisfied, the officer must first issue a notice in Form GST REG-23 asking why the application should not be rejected
• You then have seven working days to reply in Form GST REG-24
• After considering the reply the officer either revokes the cancellation in REG-22, or rejects the application by an order in Form GST REG-05, which must record reasons
• A rejection can be appealed to the Appellate Authority within three months

After the registration is restored

Restoration is retrospective — the GSTIN is treated as having been live throughout — so the compliance that accrued during the cancelled period does not disappear.

Returns for the intervening months still have to be filed, and invoices raised during that period need to be reported so your customers can claim their credit. We normally handle the catch-up filings as part of the same engagement.

How we handle it

1. 1 Reading the cancellation order We check the ground cited, the effective date and the date of service, which together decide whether you are inside the limitation period.
2. 2 Quantifying the arrears Pending returns are identified and the tax, interest and late fee computed, so there is no surprise liability mid-application.
3. 3 Filing the pending returns Every outstanding GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B up to the cancellation date is filed and the dues paid, as Rule 23 requires before the application.
4. 4 Drafting the application Form GST REG-21 is prepared with a reasoned explanation of the default and what has been done to cure it. A bare application invites a REG-23 notice.
5. 5 Filing and follow-up The application is filed on the portal and tracked. If a REG-23 notice is issued, we draft and file the REG-24 reply within the seven working days allowed.
6. 6 Restoration and catch-up Once the REG-22 order restores the GSTIN, we complete the returns for the intervening period so your customers can claim their input credit.

Frequently asked questions