India, June 26 -- Here is something that surprises a lot of first-time sole proprietors. There is no single registration certificate that makes your sole proprietorship official. No MCA filing, no incorporation process, no government approval needed just to start operating. A sole proprietorship comes into existence the moment you start doing business.

But at some point, often sooner than expected, a client asks for a GSTIN on the invoice. Or an e-commerce platform says you cannot list products without one. Or turnover crosses the threshold, and registration stops being optional.

That is when the GST registration question arrives. And since most sole proprietors have never been through it before, the process can look more complicated th...