Registration of Input Service Distributor (ISD):
As per Section 19 of the MGL read with Clause (vii) of Para 5 of Schedule III thereof, an ISD would have to take registration under GST regime as a deemed supplier of services. The threshold limit of turnover is also not applicable to ISD. Further as per the provisions contained in Proviso to Section 19, the ISD registration in the existing regime would not get migrated into ISD registration in GST regime. An aspiring ISD in GST would have to apply for registration afresh.
As ISD would be a deemed supplier of services, it is possible that at the same address a supplier of services is registered as ‘supplier of services’ and also as ‘ISD’. In the existing service tax regime, there is a confusion regarding registration status of ISD in such cases – some field formations grant status of ISD in the same registration number of service provider while some other formations provide a separate registration number as ISD in addition to service tax registration number. In the GST regime, however, ISD would always have a separate registration number (GSTIN). Further the ISD is required to file return by 13th while a supplier of services is required to file return by 20th of the succeeding month, which is possible with different registration numbers only.