Notification No. 05/2025 – Central Tax (Rate), dated January 16, 2025, provides for declarations to be furnished by persons supplying hotel accommodation services for declaring their premises as “specified premises”. For the financial year 2025–26, the prescribed declarations were filed manually with the jurisdictional tax authorities. Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has now enabled an electronic facility on the GST Portal for filing these declarations. This advisory specifies the eligibility, types of declarations, and timelines applicable for electronic filing for FY 2026–27.

The advisory enables electronic filing on the GST Portal of opt-in declarations prescribed under Notification No. 05/2025 – Central Tax (Rate), dated January 16, 2025, for declaring premises as “specified premises”.

Annexure VII (Opt-In Declaration for Registered Person) has been made available for existing registered taxpayers supplying hotel accommodation services who intend to declare their premises as specified premises for a succeeding financial year. This declaration may be filed only during the prescribed window from 1st January to 31st March of the immediately preceding financial year. For FY 2026–27, Annexure VII is available for filing from January 01, 2026 to March 31, 2026.

Annexure VIII (Opt-In Declaration for Person Applying for Registration) has been made available for persons applying for new GST registration who intend to declare their premises as specified premises from the effective date of registration. This declaration may be filed within 15 days from the date of generation of the ARN of the registration application, irrespective of whether the GSTIN has been allotted, provided the application is not rejected. Where the period of 15 days has elapsed, the opt-in declaration may be filed only during the window prescribed for Annexure VII, i.e., from 1st January to 31st March.

Confirmation via email and SMS will be sent to all authorised signatories upon successful filing of the declaration.

The advisory clarifies that the facility is available to regular taxpayers (including suspended registrations) and applicants for registration, and is not applicable to composition taxpayers, TDS/TCS taxpayers, SEZ units or developers, casual taxpayers, or cancelled registrations.

A maximum of ten premises may be selected in a single declaration. Separate reference numbers and PDF acknowledgements are generated for each declared premise. Where any premises are left out, an additional declaration may be filed for the same financial year within the eligible filing window. The option exercised through Annexure VII or Annexure VIII shall continue for subsequent financial years unless an opt-out declaration in Annexure IX is filed within the prescribed time.

The advisory further clarifies that taxpayers who had furnished declarations manually for FY 2025–26 are required to file Annexure VII electronically again for FY 2026–27 during the period from January 01, 2026 to March 31, 2026, including cases where premises are being declared as specified premises for the first time.