centralised registration

To get centralised registration, we need to apply in form ST 1 along with 22 point check list.  Strictly speaking we dont need to even submit this 22 point check list but without this check list dept is not accepting the application.

what is the limit for registration in case a service provider have more than one premises?

Is  it 9lacs as a whole or it is for each premises individually???

A Centralised Registration is Cumbersome. If  you are providing services from 2 different offices then take two separate registrations especially if they are in different commissionerate.

Even if you have two offices under same commissionerate opt for seperate registrations. However if you have one office that provides the service to the client and other offices that are basically back offices for this main office, then you need only to register the premise that is rendering the service to the clients. Eg. An Architect. He can register the place where he is sitting. The place may be small or he can get employees at reasonable salary at another location in the same city. He would have another office where he stations his accounts department or even draftsmen who do his drawing. They are not providing the service to the client. Those are his employees doing his work. Finally he is giving the service. Therefore he does not have to register his own back offices with the department. Only the premise from where he provides service to his client. 

Friends, I am not an expert and giving you my own views. I am not a qualified CA or even a Commerce Graduate. It is only I understand that you do not levy service tax on services to yourself. Therefore you do not register your own back offices as those are strictly rendering services to ones self only. However, please consult your service tax practitioner and go according to his advice. After all he is your merchant of good nights sleep. If he says take centralised registrations take it.

I just checked instances of back offices from the person who faced difficulty. What service tax does not want you to do is take independent registration for premises not providing the taxable service to the client and then filing nil return. If your premises is taking the input service but not providing an output service then centralise it with the premises that is giving the output service so you can adjust the input with output. However, if two of your branches are located under different zones for Service Tax and logically each are independently having its own input and output, bettwer take separate registrations. If you have 3 branches in Delhi and 3 in Mumbai, you can centralise the 3 in Mumbai and 3 in Delhi at the appropriate jurisdiction. If it is different branches in one zone you have to centralise in the zone. If it is in a commissionerate then you have to centralize it at the commissionerate level.

For such technicalities you are better of going to the professional who will examine the service rendered by you and based on your situation of input and output he will recommend to you whether you centralise or take independent. What opinions you get in this forum are too general and Service Tax is an offshoot of Central Excise and provisions are imported from Central Excise. Therefore, large providers have to organise their structure with care. The personal meeting with the professional with all facts of your service will help. Each case will have its own problems that need to be sorted out.