GSTIN › Verify GSTIN online

How to verify a GSTIN on the GST portal

A GSTIN can be well formed and still not belong to the business in front of you, or be cancelled. Before you bill a new customer or pay a new supplier, look the number up on the official GST portal. It is free and needs no login.

Steps

1. Open services.gst.gov.in and go to Search Taxpayer › Search by GSTIN/UIN. (Our checker's button "Get name and address from this GSTIN" copies the GSTIN and opens this page for you.)
2. Paste the GSTIN, type the letters shown in the picture (the CAPTCHA) and press Search.
3. Read the result: legal name, trade name, effective date of registration, constitution of business, GSTIN / UIN status, taxpayer type and principal place of business.
4. To keep the details, select the whole result, copy it and paste it into our checker. It reads the name, address, status and type, you check them, and save the business as a customer or supplier.

There is also Search Taxpayer › Search by PAN, which lists every GSTIN of one PAN in all states. Use it when a business has given you only its PAN, or when you are not sure which state's GSTIN to bill.

What to look at

• Status. "Active" is what you want. "Suspended" or "Cancelled" means the business may not be allowed to charge GST; talk to them before you pay GST to them or claim input tax credit on their bill. Note the date of cancellation if shown.
• Legal name and trade name. The legal name is the name on the PAN; the trade name is the shop or brand name. A proprietor's legal name is the owner, for example "Ramesh Kumar", with the trade name "Kumar Hardware". Either may be on the bill; our tools use the trade name for proprietors and keep the legal name in the record.
• Taxpayer type. "Regular" can charge GST and issue tax invoices. "Composition" cannot charge GST; such a supplier gives you a bill of supply, and you cannot take input tax credit on it. "SEZ unit" or "SEZ developer" changes how you invoice them.
• Address. Should match the address you are billing or shipping to, or be another branch of the same business.

Why verify

• Your customer's input tax credit depends on the GSTIN you report in GSTR-1. A wrong GSTIN sends the credit to someone else (see wrong GSTIN on an invoice).
• Your own input tax credit is safe only when the supplier is real, active and files returns. Check new suppliers before the first payment.
• Fake invoices often use GSTINs that are cancelled or belong to someone else. A quick search catches most of them.