GST for small businesses: registration thresholds, returns, the composition scheme, input tax credit, e-invoicing, and replying to notices and audits.
ASMT-10 is the GST scrutiny notice under section 61 and rule 99: the officer lists discrepancies in your returns and asks you to explain them within up to 30 days. How to reply in ASMT-11, what an ASMT-12 closure means, and what can follow if the explanation is not accepted.
A section 73 GST show cause notice (summary in DRC-01) covers non-fraud demands for periods up to FY 2023-24. The time limits in sections 73(2) and 73(10), the penalty saved by paying within 30 days, voluntary payment in DRC-03, the hearing rights in section 75, and the appeal if the demand is confirmed.
For tax periods from FY 2024-25, a GST demand notice must issue within 42 months of the annual return due date, and the order within 12 months of the notice, extendable by 6. How the GSTR-9 due date anchors the clock, how it differs from sections 73 and 74, and how to check the dates on your own notice.
An appeal to the GST Appellate Tribunal lies within three months of the appellate order, or a notified date if later. The 31 July 2026 transition date for orders communicated before 1 May 2026, the three-month condonation window, and the pre-deposit: 10% more of the disputed tax, capped at ₹20 crore (₹40 crore for IGST).
DRC-01A is the optional intimation a GST officer may send before a show cause notice. What rule 142(1A) says since Notification 79/2020-CT, how to reply in Part B, why the rule fixes no reply period, and what paying before the notice saves under section 74A.
What happens when goods in transit are stopped and detained under section 129 of the CGST Act: the MOV-01 to MOV-11 forms, the penalty for release, the 7-day notice and order limits, 15 days to pay, and the appeal pre-deposit change of 1 October 2025.
How a departmental GST audit under section 65 works: the ADT-01 notice at least 15 working days ahead, three months to finish (extendable by six), findings in ADT-02 within 30 days, what follows, and how a special audit under section 66 (ADT-03 and ADT-04) differs.
What happens when GST officers inspect or search your business under section 67: Form INS-01 and INS-02, CBIC's search procedure, why no tax can be recovered during a search, return of documents and goods, provisional release, and the arrest rules under section 69.
A plain-English guide to a GST summons under section 70 of the CGST Act: the duty to appear, how to check the DIN, what CBIC Instructions 03/2022-23 and 01/2023-24 tell officers, what to carry, and where to raise a grievance.
When you can claim GST input tax credit and when you lose it: the section 16 conditions, the GSTR-2B rule, the 30 November time limit, blocked credits under section 17(5), reversal if you do not pay a supplier in 180 days, and the Invoice Management System.
When an e-way bill is needed under rule 138 of the CGST Rules, who generates it, how long it is valid, which goods and movements are exempt, what changed on the portal in 2025, and what happens if goods are stopped without one.
Every GST return date a small business needs, from the CGST Rules and CBIC notifications: GSTR-1 on the 11th or 13th, GSTR-3B on the 20th or, under QRMP, the 24th in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, PMT-06, CMP-08, GSTR-4, GSTR-9 and the late fees.
These articles explain GST for small businesses as the GST law, its rules and the official notifications and circulars set it out.
Each article lists its sources with links and shows when it was published or last updated. Articles explain the rules in general and are not advice for your business: check the source, or ask our expert team, before you act.