The Indirect Tax department in Uttar Pradesh recently sent notices to the companies renting out infrastructure or heavy equipment for the accomplishment of projects demanding them to register within the states. This has given rise to the question of whether the company renting out complete infrastructure or heavy equipment needed in the construction needs to register themselves within the states or not?
The notice of UP tax officials could be seen as a rising voice that may lead to other states also demand registration of such companies under the jurisdiction of their states and file the GST returns
Looking at the GST framework, a company having multiple registrations is not liable to pay the taxes multiple times but the compliance burden is increased in such cases.
The administration is in a dilemma because of the situation that the equipment owned by the companies is rented out across the nation and GST is paid on the lease that fluctuates based on the location of the service provider.
The notices in Uttar Pradesh are sent to rent-a-cab operators asking them to get themselves registered within the states (where they are giving their services), said Abhishek A Rastogi, a partner at Khaitan & Co.
The notices can easily be challenged as there is no law that mandates GST registration