Decoding 15 digits of GST Number:

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Decoding 15 digits of GST Number:

As we all know, GST number is a 15 digit number. Under Goods and Service Tax Act, each tax payer is allotted GSTIN Number. GSTIN is described as Goods and Services Taxpayer Identification Number.
The question arises what this 15 digits stands for.
Let us know about it.
  1. The first two digits represent the State in the Country where such registration is allowed.
    For example, Maharashtra has been allotted code No. “ 27” in terms of the Indian Census 2011. So, all the GST registration with place of business in Maharashtra will be 27 as their first two digits.
  2. The second set of 10 digits would be the Permanent Account Number (PAN) allotted by the Income tax department for each Legal entity. This 10 digits are normally random number except 4th alphabets which represent the status of the person (individual, HUF, Firm, Company etc) & 5th Digita which represents the first name of such person.
  3. The 13th digit would be alpha-numeric (1-9 and then A-Z). It is done by considering the number of Registrations any entity with same PAN Number is having within that State.
    For example, if an entity has only one registration within that State then 13th digit of GSTIN would be “1. If the same entity have second registration for a second business vertical in the same State then the 13th digit of GSTIN assigned to this second entity would be “2‟. In this way, total 35 business verticals of the same legal entity can be registered within one State.
  4. The 14th digit of GSTIN would be just a random number and kept blank for its future use.
  5. The 15th Digit will be the check digit which is arrived at by some mathemathical formula depending upon the other numbers in the same GSTN. The taxpayers may treat this number also as a random number for all their purposes.
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