GST registration documents list

For GST registration you need four things: your PAN, a photograph, proof of how your business is constituted, and proof of your business address. One address document is usually enough. If someone else owns the premises, you add a rent agreement or a consent letter. A bank account is not needed to apply for registration. The full list, by business type, is below.

Most rejected applications are not rejected because a document was missing. They are rejected because the wrong document was supplied for the type of premises. That is the part this page covers in detail.

The rule that changed what officers can ask for

On 17 April 2025 the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs issued Instruction No. 03/2025-GST. It replaced the 2023 guidelines. The Board said applicants were being asked for documents that were never on the official list, and told officers to stop.

The instruction is the reason this page can be specific. Officers must stick to the list appended to FORM GST REG-01. If an officer wants something outside that list, they need approval from the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner first.

The full document list

This is the list the GST portal itself publishes, with the file types and size limits it accepts.

Two things people expect to see on this list and will not find.

There is no PAN upload. Your PAN is validated online against the income tax database when you fill Part A. You type the number, you do not scan the card.

There is no bank document. Bank details come later. See the section below.

Address proof for your principal place of business

This is where most applications go wrong. What you upload depends entirely on who owns the premises. Find your situation in the table.

A water bill works wherever an electricity bill works. So does any other document that clearly establishes ownership under your State or local laws.

Rented and shared premises are the usual case in the capital, and the physical verification that follows is the part applicants underestimate. If that is you, see GST registration in Delhi.

What an officer cannot ask you for

Instruction No. 03/2025-GST names these specifically. If you are asked for one of them, the instruction is on your side.

The instruction also tells officers not to raise presumptive queries. That means questions like “your home address is in a different city”, “this HSN code is restricted in this State”, or “this activity cannot be carried out from these premises” are not proper grounds for a query on their own.

If an officer does want something outside the list, they must get approval from the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner before asking.

If your business later moves within the same State, you change this address by filing a GST amendment. See how to change your address in GST.

Consent letter and NOC for GST registration

These are the same document. The official term in the CBIC instruction is consent letter. Most people search for it as an NOC, or No Objection Certificate. If a form or a consultant asks you for an NOC for GST registration, a consent letter is what they mean.

It goes on plain paper. The instruction says so directly. A consent letter does not need stamp paper and does not need notarisation. Plenty of published guides say otherwise. They are confusing the consent letter with the affidavit, which is a different document used in a different situation.

Here is when each one applies.

What a consent letter should contain

A consent letter is short. It needs to say who owns the premises, where they are, who is being allowed to use them, and for what.

CONSENT LETTER

Date: [date]

To whomsoever it may concern

I, [full name of owner], son of / daughter of / wife of [name],
residing at [full address of the owner], am the owner of the
premises situated at [full address of the business premises].

I hereby give my consent to [full name of the applicant or the
business] to use the said premises as the principal place of
business for the purpose of registration under the Goods and
Services Tax Act, 2017.

I have no objection to the said premises being declared as the
principal place of business in the GST registration application.

Signature
[Full name of the owner]
[Contact number]

Send it with the owner's identity proof and one document proving the owner owns the premises. Ask your chartered accountant to check the wording against your own situation before you file.

Rent agreement for GST registration

A rent agreement is not compulsory for everyone. It is compulsory if you are renting and want to use the rented premises as your place of business. If the premises belong to a relative, a consent letter replaces it.

Two things decide how much paperwork you need.

Is the agreement registered? A registered agreement needs only one ownership document of the landlord alongside it. An unregistered agreement needs that plus the landlord's identity proof. That single difference is the most common cause of a REG-03 query on address proof.

Whose name is on the electricity bill? If the connection is in your name as the tenant, that bill plus the rent agreement is enough on its own. No landlord documents at all.

One practical note. Agreements and deeds can be uploaded up to 1 MB. Everything else on the address list is capped at 100 KB. Scan the agreement as a PDF rather than a photo, and compress the rest.

Board resolution and letter of authorisation

Every business except a proprietorship has to name an authorised signatory and prove that person was actually appointed. The GST portal accepts two forms of proof.

Which one you use follows your entity type. This part is practice rather than a rule, since the portal accepts both from most applicants.

• A partnership firm normally files a letter of authorisation signed by all partners.
• A company normally files a board resolution with an acceptance letter.
• A trust, society, club or association normally files a resolution of the managing committee or trustees, with an acceptance letter.
• A proprietor is their own signatory and files neither.

Letter of authorisation wording

LETTER OF AUTHORISATION

Date: [date]

We, the partners of M/s [firm name], having its principal place
of business at [full address], hereby authorise
Shri / Smt. [name of the authorised signatory], [designation],
to act as the Authorised Signatory of the firm for all purposes
under the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

All acts done by the said Authorised Signatory in relation to
this business shall be binding on us.

Signatures of all partners
[Name and signature of each partner]

ACCEPTANCE

I, [name of the authorised signatory], accept the above
appointment as Authorised Signatory.

Signature
[Full name]

Keep the file under 100 KB, in JPG or PDF.

Can you use a virtual address or virtual office?

Yes, with a caveat worth reading properly.

Nothing in the CGST Act or the CGST Rules bans a virtual office address as a principal place of business. What the law cares about is whether your address proof meets the requirements for the type of premises. A virtual office falls into the consent or shared premises category, so you need the same three things: an agreement or consent letter from the provider, one document proving ownership of the premises, and the provider's identity proof where the agreement is not registered.

The caveat is physical verification. Where an application is flagged as risky, where Aadhaar authentication is not completed, or where the officer decides it is needed with Assistant Commissioner approval, an officer visits the address. The verification report has to state whether the business exists at the declared address, and it includes a GPS-tagged site photograph. An address with no sign of your business at it is a real risk, not a theoretical one.

A correction that matters. Several virtual office providers cite “GST Circular 161/17/2021” or “Circular 89/08/2019-GST” as proof that virtual offices are approved for GST. Neither circular is about place of business at all. Circular No. 161/17/2021-GST deals with export of services under condition (v) of section 2(6) of the IGST Act. Circular No. 89/08/2019-GST deals with reporting inter-State supplies to unregistered persons in Table 3.2 of GSTR-3B. If a provider is using either one to reassure you, they have not read it.

The honest position is simpler. There is no rule against a virtual address, and there is no circular approving one either. It comes down to your documents and whether the address survives a visit.

Bank account details

You do not need a bank account to apply for GST registration. There is no bank document in the portal's upload list.

Bank details are due after your GSTIN is issued. Under Rule 10A of the CGST Rules, you must furnish them within 30 days of the grant of registration, or before you file GSTR-1 or use the invoice furnishing facility, whichever comes first. If you are a proprietor, your PAN must also be linked with your Aadhaar.

Missing that deadline can get your registration suspended, so treat it as part of the registration job rather than as an afterthought.

Documents by business type

Everyone in the table also needs a photograph of the proprietor, partners or directors, a photograph of the authorised signatory, and address proof for the principal place of business.

On the signing column: a person registered under the Companies Act, 2013 must verify the application through a digital signature certificate. That is Rule 26(1) of the CGST Rules. The GST portal extends the same requirement to LLPs, foreign LLPs, foreign companies, unlimited companies and public sector undertakings. Everyone else can use a DSC or an electronic verification code.

For a partnership, a partnership deed is all that is needed for constitution. An officer should not ask you for a Udyam certificate, an MSME certificate, a shop establishment certificate or a trade licence on top of it.

The application process, in short

The full process, including costs and turnaround, is covered on our GST registration service page. This is the outline so you know when each document is needed.

Part A. You declare your PAN and your State or Union territory in FORM GST REG-01. The portal validates the PAN against the income tax database and sends one-time passwords to the mobile number and email address linked to that PAN. You get a temporary reference number back. No documents yet.

Part B. Using that reference number, you submit the full application with all the documents above, signed with a digital signature certificate or verified by EVC.

Already applied? You can check your GST ARN status for free.

Aadhaar authentication. If you opt for it, the date of your application counts as the date of Aadhaar authentication, or 15 days after you submit Part B, whichever comes first. If the portal flags your application on risk parameters, you also complete biometric Aadhaar authentication and a photograph at a notified facilitation centre, and you carry the originals of everything you uploaded. If you do not opt for Aadhaar authentication, you go to the centre for a photograph and document verification anyway. Either way, the application counts as complete only after that step.

What happens next. These timelines are set out in Instruction No. 03/2025-GST.

The gap that catches people out is the reply window. Seven working days is not long if the query asks for a document you have to get from a landlord.

Getting the documents right the first time

Most of what goes wrong here is avoidable. The premises category decides the paperwork, and getting that category wrong is what turns a 7 working day approval into a 30 day one.

If you would rather hand it over, our GST registration service includes the document check, the filing, and the reply to a REG-03 query if one comes.

Frequently asked questions

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