Search GST Number by PAN: Every GSTIN on One PAN

To search a GST number by PAN, open Search Taxpayer > Search by PAN on the government GST portal, type the 10-character PAN, clear the captcha and select SEARCH. The portal returns every valid GSTIN registered against that PAN across every state and union territory, with the status of each. It is free, it needs no login, and it is far more reliable than searching by name.

Search a GST number by PAN, step by step

The whole flow takes under a minute and needs nothing but the PAN. These are the portal's own steps, as set out in the GST portal user manual for searching taxpayers by PAN.

1. Go to gst.gov.in and open Search Taxpayer > Search by PAN.
2. Enter the PAN in the Permanent Account Number (PAN) field, exactly as issued — uppercase, no spaces.
3. Fill in the Type the characters you see in the image below captcha field. If you are logged in to the portal, no captcha appears.
4. Select SEARCH. The portal lists every valid GSTIN registered against that PAN in different states and union territories, in a table, with each one's registration status.
5. Select any GSTIN in the list to open the full taxpayer record for that single registration.

What the result list shows, column by column

This is the part most walkthroughs skip, and it is where people get stuck: the result is a list, not an answer, and knowing which field settles which question saves you opening every row. Without logging in, each registration in the list carries the following.

Field	What it settles
GSTIN / UIN	The registration number itself. First two characters are the state, middle ten are the PAN you searched.
Legal name of business	The name on the registration — the field that makes a separate name search unnecessary.
Status	Active, Cancelled, Suspended or Inactive. The one field to read first if money is about to move.
Date of registration	When this registration took effect. Relevant when an invoice is dated near it.
Date of cancellation	Populated only where the registration has been cancelled. An invoice dated before it sits in a very different risk category from one dated after.
Constitution of business	Company, proprietorship, partnership, LLP and so on. Decides reverse charge on security and similar services.
Taxpayer type	Regular, composition, casual, ISD and the rest. A composition dealer cannot pass on input tax credit.
Jurisdiction	The state and centre jurisdiction handling this registration.
Nature of business activities	What the registration says the entity does at that place of business.
Return filing detail	Which returns have been filed, and for which periods.

Logging in adds the names of the proprietor, directors or promoters, the principal place of business and any additional places of business. Everything in the table above is available without an account.

Why the PAN is inside the GSTIN

PAN-based search works because of how a GSTIN is constructed. Its middle ten characters (positions 3 through 12) are the entity's actual Income Tax PAN, unchanged, embedded directly into the number. See our full breakdown of the GSTIN format, character by character for how every position is assigned. Because the PAN sits inside the GSTIN rather than being merely associated with it, searching by PAN is a structural lookup, not a fuzzy name match — which is exactly why it succeeds where name search often fails.

A business name, by contrast, is not a unique key. Multiple unrelated entities can register under similar or identical trade names, and the same legal entity often trades under a different name in different states. A PAN has none of that ambiguity — the Income Tax Department issues exactly one PAN per legal entity, and it never gets reused.

Searching by name and PAN together

There is no combined search. The GST portal's public Search Taxpayer menu offers Search by GSTIN/UIN and Search by PAN, and neither carries a name field — so a GST number search by name and PAN cannot be run as a single query on the portal.

In practice that matters less than it sounds, because the two halves answer each other:

• If you hold the PAN, search by PAN and read the legal name off the result. The name was only ever a way of confirming you had the right entity, and the result confirms it directly.
• If you only hold a name, there is no portal route at all — you need to obtain the PAN or one GSTIN first, from an invoice, a purchase order, a contract, or the vendor. Our note on searching a GST number by business name covers why the name-only route underdelivers and what the realistic options are.
• If you hold a GSTIN and want the PAN, you do not need to search at all: read characters 3 to 12 straight out of the GSTIN.

Reading the result list: one PAN, many GSTINs

GST registration is fundamentally state-wise: a business needs a distinct registration, and therefore a distinct GSTIN, in every state where it has a place of business, even though it is the same legal entity and the same PAN throughout. A national retailer or a manufacturer with warehouses in six states will show six rows against one PAN in a search result — that is expected behavior, not a data error.

Each row differs only in its first two characters, the state code, since the PAN portion in positions 3–12 is identical across every row. A ten-row result for a large company with the same ten-character block repeated is exactly what a correct PAN search should look like.

The 13th character: multiple registrations in one state

State-wise variation is not the only source of multiple rows. A single entity can also hold more than one GSTIN within the same state — for example, separate registrations for distinct business verticals, or for a unit registered as an Input Service Distributor. This is where the GSTIN's 13th character does its job.

That character is an entity/registration count code: the first registration an entity holds in a given state under a given PAN typically carries a "1" in that position, a second separately-registered vertical in the same state carries a "2", and the sequence continues through the digits and then the letters A–Z if a business somehow needs more than nine registrations in one state — a rare case in practice.

GSTIN	State code (1-2)	13th character	Meaning
27AAACR5055K1Z7	27 (Maharashtra)	1	First registration for this PAN in this state
27AAACR5055K2Z0	27 (Maharashtra)	2	A second, separately-held registration for the same PAN and state

The example above is illustrative of the pattern, not a claim about a specific real second registration — the point is that the 13th character, not the state code, is what to check when two rows in a PAN search share the same first two digits.

If a GSTIN you do not recognise is registered on your PAN

Run the search on your own PAN and you may find a registration you never applied for. Fraudulent registration against someone else's PAN is a real pattern, and the GST portal handles it on the same pre-login screen you just used — you do not need an account, and you do not need to find a different form.

From the Search by PAN result, select the GSTINs you do not recognise and register a complaint. The portal auto-populates the legal name on your PAN for you to confirm, takes your personal details, and completes Aadhaar authentication by OTP, which is mandatory. You receive an ARN, with email and SMS confirmation, and tax officers review each reported GSTIN separately. More than one GSTIN can be reported in a single complaint.

Common situations this method resolves

PAN-based search earns its keep in a handful of recurring scenarios, and knowing which one you are in saves time interpreting the result list.

• A vendor operates in a state you did not know about. The full row list from a PAN search is often the first time a buyer realises a supplier has a registered place of business, and therefore GST liability, in a state relevant to a specific shipment.
• You received an invoice with a GSTIN you cannot place. Search the PAN embedded in that GSTIN's middle ten characters and confirm the row for the invoicing state actually appears in the result list, rather than trusting the number in isolation.
• You are consolidating a vendor master that has drifted. Large vendors often get entered into ERP systems under whichever single GSTIN a purchase order used first; a PAN search surfaces every registration you should actually be tracking for that vendor.
• You suspect two entries in your records are the same business. If the ten-character PAN segment inside two GSTINs matches, they belong to the same legal entity even if the trade names on file differ.

None of these require anything beyond the portal's free PAN search — the value is in reading the result list correctly, not in any paid step.

Confirming a specific result with a live lookup

Once the portal's PAN search narrows you down to the specific GSTIN you care about — say, the entry for the state you are actually transacting with — confirm it with a live lookup rather than trusting the list snapshot, especially if any time has passed since you ran the search.

 curl -s https://gstinapi.com/api/get-taxpayer-info/27AAACR5055K1Z7 \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" 

A full response confirms current status, legal name, and jurisdiction, and adds what the portal's search list does not show at a glance — filing history, e-invoicing status and timeliness signals. The GST verification API guide covers the whole response shape in detail.

One more distinction worth carrying into how you use this data: a PAN identifies the legal entity for income tax purposes across its entire life, while each GSTIN under it represents one specific state registration that can be cancelled, suspended or reactivated independently of the others. A business losing its registration in one state says nothing about its standing in a different state, and a search by PAN is exactly the tool that surfaces that state-by-state picture in one screen — something a single GSTIN lookup, by design, cannot show you. Our note on the difference between a GSTIN and a PAN goes deeper into how the two identifiers relate for entities that also carry other tax registrations.

If your goal is checking a supplier's GSTIN on every invoice rather than a one-off search, that workflow belongs in your accounts payable process — see automating vendor GST checks in AP. To confirm a suspicious result is not simply a well-formed fake, read how to check if a GST number is fake. Sign up for 20 free verification credits or browse pricing for higher volume.

Frequently asked questions

Can I search a GST number using just a PAN card number?

Yes. The GST portal's Search Taxpayer page has a dedicated Search by PAN option that takes a 10-character PAN and returns every GSTIN registered against it — one for each state the entity operates in, and potentially more than one within a single state.

Why does one PAN show multiple GST numbers?

A PAN identifies a legal entity for income tax purposes, while a GSTIN identifies a specific registration for GST purposes. Because GST registration is state-wise, one PAN can carry a separate GSTIN in every state where the entity has a place of business, plus additional GSTINs within the same state distinguished by the 13th character of the GSTIN.

What does the 13th character of a GSTIN mean?

It is an entity code that counts registrations within a single state under the same PAN. The first registration in a state typically gets '1', a second business vertical registered separately in the same state gets '2', and so on through the digits then letters A through Z if needed. It does not indicate anything about the entity outside that one state.

Does searching by PAN tell me if a GSTIN is currently active?

The portal's PAN search result list shows a status alongside each GSTIN, but for a decision that matters — releasing a payment, onboarding a vendor — treat that as a starting point and re-confirm with a fresh lookup on the specific GSTIN, since status can change between when a list is generated and when you act on it.

Can I search by PAN without knowing which state the business operates in?

Yes, that is precisely the advantage of PAN search over name search. You do not need to know the state in advance — the result list itself tells you every state where the entity holds a registration, which is often useful information on its own.

Can I search a GST number by name and PAN together?

Not as a single combined search. The GST portal's public Search Taxpayer menu offers Search by GSTIN/UIN and Search by PAN, and there is no name field in either. If you hold the PAN, search by PAN — the result carries the legal name, so you get the name confirmation you were looking for anyway. If you only have a name, you have to find the PAN or a GSTIN first.

What do I do if a GSTIN I do not recognise is registered against my PAN?

The pre-login Search by PAN result is also where you report it. The GST portal lets you select the GSTINs you do not recognise from the result list and register a complaint, confirming your auto-populated legal name and completing Aadhaar OTP authentication. You get an ARN, and officers review each reported GSTIN separately.