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Adullam Tools

GST

GSTIN checker

Paste the fifteen characters a counterparty sent you. This tells you whether the format and check digit hold, and what the number is actually saying.

Statutory rates as of 5 Sept 2026

GSTIN

Spaces, hyphens and lower case are handled for you. Paste it straight out of the e-mail or PDF.

Enter a GSTIN above and the position-by-position reading appears here.
GST invoice checker

Check every particular an Indian tax invoice must carry under CGST Rule 46, and generate a printable PDF draft.

GST invoice checker

What this tool does not check

Passing here does not mean you are clear to transact. These three things cannot be known from this screen.

Whether the registration exists

A number being correctly shaped and a number being on the GST register are different things. Well-formed fake numbers are trivial to produce.

Whether it is still active

Registrations get cancelled and suspended. A cancelled GSTIN still passes format and checksum validation.

Whether it belongs to that business

Whether the trade name on the invoice matches the holder of the GSTIN can only be established on the official portal.

Check it officially here

Search Taxpayer on the GST portal is free and needs no login. Enter a GSTIN and it returns the legal name, registration date, status and jurisdiction.

GST portal — Search Taxpayer

Why we do not look it up for you

Live lookup requires a GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) contract. We do not hold one, and we will not pretend otherwise. Instead we give you exactly what can be established without one — the format, the check digit, and what the number encodes.

Reading a GSTIN

A GSTIN does the same job as a domestic tax registration number, but its structure is different in two ways that matter. Every position carries meaning, and — more importantly — **one business holds several of them.** Understanding those two points removes most of the confusion.

1. One business having several GSTINs is normal

GST is registered state by state. A business with premises in Maharashtra and Karnataka holds two GSTINs. The ten PAN characters in the middle are identical; only the first two — the state code — differ.

This is where the most common mistake happens. Teams record one "vendor GSTIN" and use it on every invoice. If the goods go to a place of business in another state, that state's GSTIN is the one that belongs on the document — and getting it wrong costs the recipient their input tax credit.

So when you set up a counterparty, collect their GSTINs per state. Which one applies depends on where the supply actually lands.

2. The middle ten characters are a PAN — and they reveal the entity type

Positions 3 to 12 of a GSTIN are the holder's PAN, India's permanent tax identification number.

The fourth character of a PAN encodes the entity type. C is a company, P an individual, F a partnership firm, T a trust, H a Hindu Undivided Family. So the GSTIN alone tells you whether you are dealing with an incorporated company or a sole proprietor.

The result panel above shows that reading. If it disagrees with the entity type named in your contract, it is worth resolving — signing authority and withholding treatment can both turn on it.

3. The check digit catches typos, not fraud

The fifteenth character is computed from the first fourteen. Mistype one character and it will almost certainly fail. That makes it genuinely useful for numbers transcribed by hand.

But producing a number whose checksum passes is easy. A passing checksum means "no typo" — it does not mean "real registration", and it never has.

For a large transaction or a first-time counterparty, look the number up on the GST portal and confirm the legal name, registration date and status. It is free and needs no login.

4. The first two characters decide which tax you charge

The opening two digits are the state of registration. They matter because the tax head follows from them.

When the supplier's state and the place of supply are the same, you charge CGST plus SGST at half each. When they differ, you charge IGST at the full rate. Get it the wrong way round and the invoice has to be reissued.

The catch is that place of supply is not always the recipient's address. A Delhi buyer having goods shipped to Tamil Nadu still makes Delhi the place of supply. That determination is handled, with the statutory references, in a separate tool.

5. A fourteenth character that is not Z, and numbers starting 99

The fourteenth position is Z for ordinary taxpayers. Anything else suggests this is not a standard business registration, and it is worth establishing what it was issued as.

A number opening with 99 is not a state code at all — it is a UIN (Unique Identity Number), issued to UN bodies, embassies and consulates. Documents issued to such counterparties are treated differently.

This screen flags both as warnings rather than errors, because neither is a malformed number.

Frequently asked questions

No. It means the format and check digit hold. Well-formed fake numbers are easy to produce. Whether the registration exists and is active can only be confirmed through Search Taxpayer on the GST portal, which is free and needs no login.

Live verification requires a GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) contract, which we do not hold. Some tools present unverified results as though they were live checks. We prefer to state only what we can actually establish — format, check digit, and what the number encodes.

The one for the state where the goods or services actually land. GST is registered state by state, so one business holds a different GSTIN in each state it operates in. Using the wrong one costs the recipient their input tax credit.

No. Validation happens in your browser and the value is never sent to a server. It does not appear in the URL either.

Search Taxpayer on the GST portal has a search-by-PAN option that lists the GSTINs registered against it, state by state. This screen only does the reverse — extracting the PAN out of a GSTIN.

No. Rates are revised regularly and classification is genuinely disputed. Showing you a wrong rate would be worse than showing none. Confirm rates against the CBIC rate schedules or with your chartered accountant.

Related tools

GST invoice checkerCheck every particular an Indian tax invoice must carry under CGST Rule 46, and generate a printable PDF draft.Place of supplyDetermine the place of supply under IGST Act sections 10 to 13 and see which tax heads apply, with the governing provision quoted.e-Invoice (INV-01) guideExport your invoice as a FORM GST INV-01 JSON draft for the government IRP, and see what the portal would reject before you upload. The IRN and signed QR code are issued only by the portal.