Know your GSTIN

Given the buzz around Goods and Services Tax, it is safe to say that GST has become the poster boy of Indian Economic Reforms. Various industry experts are coming up with impact studies of GST on different sectors, how GST is going to transform the way India does its business, how everything will align to the Digital India campaign of our government and how this is going to be one single value chain for all goods and services across India.

Most of these issues may not impact a regular business initially. However, one change which every taxpayer is going to face immediately will be in their tax identification number.

What is GSTIN?

So far, for any dealer registered under state VAT law, a unique TIN number is issued by the respective state tax authorities. Similarly, a service provider is assigned a service tax registration number by the Central Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC).

Going forward, in the new GST regime, all these taxpayers will get consolidated into one single platform for compliance and administration purposes and will be assigned registration under a single authority. The government has set up GSTN–a special purpose vehicle to provide the IT infrastructure necessary to support GST digitally. It is expected that 8 million taxpayers will be migrated from various platforms into GST. All of these businesses will be assigned a unique Goods and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN). But most are yet not aware of the new registration process and the identification number.

Proposed GST Identification Number (GSTIN)

Here’s a complete break-up of the proposed GST Identification Number. Each taxpayer will be allotted a state-wise PAN-based 15-digit Goods and Services Taxpayer Identification Number (GSTIN).

The first two digits of this number will represent the state code as per Indian Census 2011

The next ten digits will be the PAN number of the taxpayer

The thirteenth digit will be assigned based on the number of registration within a state

The fourteenth digit will be Z by default

The last digit will be for check code. It may be an alphabet or a number.

A format of proposed GSTIN has been shown in the image below.

Using this guide, you can easily simulate the GSTIN that is going to be issued under the new GST regime. For further queries on the registration process for GST, you may also refer the FAQ on migration issued by GSTN.

What is GSTN?

The Goods and Service Tax Network (or GSTN) is a non-profit, non-government organization. It will manage the entire IT system of the GST portal, which is the mother database for everything GST. This portal will be used by the government to track every financial transaction, and will provide taxpayers with all services – from registration to filing taxes and maintaining all tax details.

Author : Umesh Patel

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