# GST
URL: https://indialookup.net/gst/
Category: Business
Verify any GSTIN - legal name, status, taxpayer type, jurisdiction and every place of business from the GST registry - plus a guide to GST registration.
## Verify a GSTIN against the GST registry

This tool takes a 15-character Goods and Services Tax Identification Number and returns the taxpayer record held by the GST Network - legal name, trade name, registration status, taxpayer type, constitution, registration and cancellation dates, e-invoice applicability, Centre and State jurisdiction, nature of business, and the principal and every additional place of business.

It also decodes the number itself - state, PAN, entity sequence and check digit - and plots the registered addresses on a map, so an accounts team can confirm in one view that the GSTIN on an invoice is live and belongs to the business named on it.

## How to check

1. **Enter the GSTIN** - Type or paste the 15-character number into the GSTIN field. Spaces are stripped and letters upper-cased as you type; the form rejects anything that is not two digits, a 10-character PAN, an entity code, Z and a check digit.
2. **Check** - The lookup fetches the taxpayer record through API Setu. The headline card shows the legal name, a GSTIN chip with copy button, and badges for status, taxpayer type and e-invoice; four tiles summarise status, registration age, state and places of business.
3. **Read the detail** - The map plots the principal place of business beside its address and jurisdiction; the Registration card lists constitution, dates and core business; GSTIN anatomy breaks the number down. Places of business lists the principal and every additional place as cards - select one to zoom the map to it, and use View all when there are more than six.

## What is GST?

Goods and Services Tax is India's destination-based indirect tax on the supply of goods and services, charged as CGST plus SGST/UTGST within a state and IGST across states and on imports. Policy is set by the GST Council under Article 279A of the Constitution; administration is split between CBIC and the state commercial-tax departments; and the common portal, e-way bill system and invoice registration portals are run by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), incorporated on 28 March 2013 and owned 50:50 by the Centre and the states.

The legal basis is the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016, assented to on 8 September 2016. GST went live on 1 July 2017 under the CGST and IGST Acts. A business above the threshold - ₹40 lakh turnover for goods and ₹20 lakh for services in most states, half that in the special-category states - must register and is issued a 15-character GSTIN per state, so a company with branches in several states holds several GSTINs on one PAN.

On 3 September 2025 the 56th GST Council collapsed four rate slabs into a 5% merit rate and an 18% standard rate, with 40% for luxury and demerit goods, effective 22 September 2025. From 1 November 2025 Rule 14A of the CGST Rules (Notification 18/2025-Central Tax) grants registration automatically within three working days to applicants whose output tax on supplies to registered persons is at most ₹2,50,000 a month. E-invoicing has applied above ₹5 crore aggregate turnover since 1 August 2023 (Notification 10/2023-Central Tax), and since 1 April 2025 taxpayers above ₹10 crore must report each invoice to an IRP within 30 days.

## How a GSTIN is issued and kept current

Positions 1-2 of a GSTIN are the state code (01 Jammu & Kashmir through 38 Ladakh, 97 Other Territory, 99 Centre); 3-12 are the PAN, whose fourth letter gives the entity type (C company, P individual, F firm or LLP, H HUF, T trust); 13 counts registrations under that PAN in the state (1-9, then A-Z); 14 is always Z; and 15 is a check digit computed with a mod-36 Luhn variant over the first fourteen. This tool verifies the check digit before calling the registry, so a typo is usually caught in the form.

Once granted, the registration lives on the GST common portal and every change - a new place of business, a switch to composition, a suspension or cancellation - is written to the same record with a Last updated date. The Search Taxpayer service exposes the public part of that record; filing history, turnover band and promoter names need a portal login and are not part of this lookup, which reads the record through API Setu, the Government of India's API gateway, when you press Check.

1. **Application in FORM GST REG-01** - PAN, mobile and email in Part A; business details, promoters, places of business and bank account in Part B, with Aadhaar authentication. Low-risk applicants may opt into Rule 14A.
2. **Verification** - The jurisdictional officer reviews it; risk-flagged applicants complete biometric Aadhaar authentication at a GST Suvidha Kendra and may get a site visit.
3. **Grant of GSTIN** - The portal builds the GSTIN from state code, PAN and sequence and issues the certificate in FORM GST REG-06 with the effective date - Registered on in this result.
4. **Amendments** - Core changes (legal name, places of business, promoters) need officer approval via REG-14; non-core changes apply at once. Each moves Last updated.
5. **Suspension under Rule 21A** - The portal suspends a registration when GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 diverge, returns go unfiled or no bank account is furnished, and issues FORM GST REG-31 giving 30 days to explain. A suspended taxpayer cannot issue tax invoices or claim refunds.
6. **Cancellation** - On the taxpayer's application (REG-16) or by order after a show-cause notice. Cancelled on is written to the record; revocation (REG-21) must be sought within 90 days of the order, a window in force since 1 October 2023.

## Why verify a supplier's GSTIN

- **Protect your input tax credit** - Since 1 January 2022, section 16(2)(aa) of the CGST Act allows credit only on invoices the supplier has reported into your GSTR-2B, and 16(2)(c) requires the tax to have been paid. A cancelled or suspended supplier can do neither.
- **Catch fake or borrowed GSTINs** - Fake-invoice rings bill under a number that belongs to another business, is cancelled, or never existed. Matching legal name, state and place of business against the registry catches most of them.
- **Charge the right tax** - The state code decides CGST + SGST versus IGST. A composition taxpayer cannot charge GST at all and supplies to an SEZ unit are zero-rated - the Taxpayer type tells you which.
- **Support e-way bills and audits** - Consignor and consignee addresses on an e-way bill must be registered places of business. Auditors and banks ask for the same proof - Active status with matching name and address.

## Reading the result

Labels below are as shown in the result. Values come from the GST registry unmodified; the GSTIN anatomy card is computed from the number itself.

- **Legal name of business**: The name on the PAN and registration certificate - the name a tax invoice must carry. A different trade name appears beneath as "Trading as".
- **Status**: Active is a live registration. Cancelled means it closed on the date shown. Suspended means Rule 21A proceedings are pending and invoices issued meanwhile are not valid for credit. Provisional appears only on pre-2017 migrated registrations never finalised.
- **Taxpayer type**: Regular, Composition, Casual Taxable Person, Non Resident Taxable Person, SEZ Unit, SEZ Developer, Tax Deductor (TDS), Tax Collector (e-commerce TCS), Input Service Distributor or UIN holder. Only Regular and SEZ taxpayers pass on credit.
- **e-Invoice**: Yes when the taxpayer is enabled on the invoice registration portals - set for aggregate turnover above ₹5 crore. A Yes supplier's B2B invoices must carry an IRN and QR code.
- **State**: The state or union territory decoded from the first two characters. It must match the supplier's address for the CGST/SGST versus IGST split to be right.
- **Principal place of business**: The registered head office in this state, plotted on the map, with the Centre jurisdiction (CBIC commissionerate, division, range) and State jurisdiction (circle or ward).
- **Registered on / Cancelled on**: Effective dates of registration and, if cancelled, of cancellation. Credit on invoices after the cancellation date is disallowed; a cancellation can be retrospective.
- **Core business / Nature of business**: The primary activity (Manufacturer, Trader, Service Provider, Others) and the declared activities - Wholesale, Retail, Factory, Warehouse, Works Contract, Export, Import, Office - shown as chips.
- **GSTIN anatomy**: The number split into State, PAN (entity type read from its fourth letter), Entity sequence, the fixed Z, and the Check digit with a checksum valid or does not verify verdict.
- **Additional places of business**: Every other registered location with its declared nature (Warehouse, Branch, Office, Factory). Click a card to move the map to it; lists over 20 show five with a "+N more" button.

## Use cases

- **Vendor onboarding** - Confirm a new supplier's GSTIN is Active and the legal name on their invoice matches the registry before adding them to accounts payable.
- **Invoice and ITC due diligence** - Before paying a large invoice, check that the registration has not been cancelled or suspended - credit on an invoice from a cancelled GSTIN is routinely disallowed.
- **Address verification** - Cross-check the principal or additional place of business quoted in a contract, purchase order or e-way bill against what is registered.
- **Branch and warehouse mapping** - Logistics teams use the additional-places list and map to confirm a delivery address is a registered place of business before dispatch.

## Common problems

- **The form says the number does not look like a GSTIN** - Look for a letter O typed as zero, a missing character, or a 14th character that is not Z. The check digit is verified locally, so one wrong character anywhere fails.
- **No record found for a number the supplier insists is valid** - The registry returns nothing for numbers never issued, including well-formed fakes. Ask for the REG-06 certificate and search the number on services.gst.gov.in/services/searchtp; if it is absent there too, do not pay.
- **Status shows Suspended** - An open Rule 21A proceeding - usually unfiled returns or a GSTR-1 versus GSTR-3B mismatch. Suspension for unfiled returns lifts once they are filed; hold the tax component of payment until the status is Active again.
- **Status shows Cancelled but the supplier is still trading** - Invoices after the Cancelled on date carry no credit. The supplier can apply for revocation in FORM GST REG-21 within 90 days of the order (extendable by up to 180 days) or must register afresh. If the cancellation is retrospective, reconcile earlier credit against GSTR-2B.
- **Registered address or name is wrong or out of date** - Only the taxpayer can correct the record, by an amendment application on the GST portal; check Last updated afterwards. For portal or data errors the GST helpdesk is 1800-103-4786 and the grievance portal is selfservice.gstsystem.in.

## FAQ

**Q: What is a GSTIN?**

The 15-character registration number every GST taxpayer holds per state: state code, PAN, one character counting registrations under that PAN in the state, the letter Z, and a check digit.

**Q: Do I need an account to use this GST verification tool?**

No. Looking up a GSTIN here does not require an account, and the fields returned are the same public fields the GST portal shows before login.

**Q: Why does a GSTIN show as not found?**

The registry has no record under that number. If the form accepted it the check digit is right, so it was either never issued or mistyped in a way that still verifies. Confirm it against the registration certificate.

**Q: What is the difference between Active, Suspended and Cancelled?**

Active is a live registration. Suspended means a Rule 21A proceeding is pending and the taxpayer cannot issue tax invoices or claim refunds until it is lifted. Cancelled means the registration ended on the Cancelled on date; invoices after that carry no input tax credit.

**Q: Can I claim input tax credit on an invoice from a cancelled GSTIN?**

Not for supplies after the cancellation date: section 16(2)(aa) requires the invoice in your GSTR-2B and 16(2)(c) requires the tax to have been paid, and a cancelled taxpayer can do neither. Credit must in any case be claimed by 30 November after the financial year.

**Q: The taxpayer type says Composition - can they charge me GST?**

No. A composition dealer pays a flat rate on turnover, issues a bill of supply rather than a tax invoice, and cannot collect GST or pass on credit. Any GST shown on their bill is not creditable.

**Q: What does e-Invoice Yes mean for the invoices I receive?**

The supplier's aggregate turnover exceeds ₹5 crore, so every B2B invoice, credit note and debit note they issue must be registered on an invoice registration portal and carry an IRN and QR code. A plain invoice from a Yes supplier is not a valid tax invoice.

**Q: Why does the same company show a different GSTIN in another state?**

Registration is per state. Each state issues its own GSTIN on the same PAN, with its own places of business, jurisdiction and status. Check the GSTIN for the state the invoice is raised from.

## Glossary

- **GSTIN**: Goods and Services Tax Identification Number - the 15-character, state-specific registration number.
- **GSTN**: Goods and Services Tax Network - the government-owned company that runs the common portal, e-way bill system and invoice registration portals.
- **Input tax credit (ITC)**: GST paid on purchases, set off against GST collected on sales - allowed only when the supplier has reported and paid it.
- **Composition scheme**: A flat-rate option for small taxpayers - up to ₹1.5 crore turnover for goods (₹75 lakh in special-category states) and ₹50 lakh for services. Composition dealers cannot charge GST or pass on credit.
- **Casual taxable person**: A temporary registration to supply in a state with no fixed place of business, valid 90 days (extendable by 90).
- **SEZ unit / developer**: A taxpayer inside a Special Economic Zone. Supplies to them are zero-rated; the registry records the validity of the Letter of Approval.
- **GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B / GSTR-2B**: The supplier's outward-supply statement, the monthly summary return with tax payment, and the auto-drafted statement of credit available to the buyer.
- **IRN**: Invoice Reference Number - the hash an invoice registration portal assigns to an e-invoice; mandatory above ₹5 crore turnover.

Related: [All tools](https://indialookup.net/) · [llms.txt](https://indialookup.net/llms.txt)