As a supplier, buyer, lender, auditor, or investor dealing with a company, you may need to find common identifiers used for tax filings, such as PAN (Permanent Account Number), TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number) and GSTIN (Goods & Services Tax Identification Number). If you have only the name of the company, there are legitimate ways to search for the identifiers you need, using authority and reliable means.
This blog will provide you with the necessary practical steps, authoritative tools or services, verification hints and suggestions for legal trade notices, to follow to locate identification numbers.
Quick checklist (what you will need first)
- Exact and/or legal name of the company (check the spelling in MCA master data).
- State of the company (helpful for TAN/GST).
- A good internet connection and access to the forms.
Establish the Company’s Name and CIN (this can be done utilizing the MCA)
Before studying requests for tax IDs, it is a good practice to establish the company’s legal entity name and CIN from the MCA (Master Data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs). This is to ensure there are no mismatches due to trade names or abbreviations. When using the MCA Data, you have company status, CIN, registered office, and director names, which are considered a valid primary data source. You will want to use the MCA “View Company/LLP Master Data” search.
How to Find the Company’s TAN Online? (official, simple method)
Official route (Income Tax e-filing portal — quick link → “Know TAN Details”)
- Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal → Departmental Links [top] → “Know TAN Details” (quick links)
- Enter the company name, select deductor category (e.g. company), select state and submit.
- (almost always) You will receive a one-time pin (OTP) on mobile (if that is part of the request) and it will instruct you to provide this for validation; if validation occurs, you will see “TAN details” (if they are available).
This is the method provided for validated requests for income tax TANs by company name and state, due to user requests on their verification channel. As a best practice, you will want to use it if you need a verified TAN for a reason relating to TDS compliance or vendor onboarding.
How to Find the Company’s GSTIN Online?
There are two viable methods:
1. GST Portal (Search Taxpayer)
- The GST portal has a Search Taxpayer function. If you have the legal/trade name and/or PAN, you can search for taxpayer details (status, state, trade name, name of principal place of business). You can use Search by Name and Search by PAN wherever possible, but be sure to spell the company name accurately.
- Note: the GST portal’s public search is a work-in-progress. It is being improved and updated regularly. If it is not found through the GST portal, you can begin a search using the alternative method below.
2. Reputable Third-Party GST Search Tools
- There are several reputable providers (ClearTax, Razorpay, KnowYourGST, etc.) that provide GST number searches, using either name or PAN as the search function. These service providers search the public GST data and return the matching GSTIN(s) and taxpayer details. This option is useful if the GST portal search is yielding confusing results. Nonetheless, always be sure to validate the GSTIN on the official GST portal, especially if you intend to use the GSTIN for input tax credit or payment.
How to Find the Company’s PAN Online?
Due to personal privacy protection reasons, PAN is more sensitive than GSTIN or TAN. It is not always easy to find a company’s PAN from the company name online, but here are a few ways you can search for it.
1. MCA master data (best for companies/LLPs)
- If the company/LLP is registered with the MCA, the PAN of the company is often available in the company records, which you can find on the MCA website (through MCA master data or possibly through downloadable filing forms of incorporation- depending on what they are allowing on their site). I would check starting with MCA website, check their master/existing company filings section, looking for PAN. If it is there, it is definitive.
2. Official request and/or documentation provided by the customer or vendor
- If not available on the MCA site, then asking the company directly (i.e. request a copy of their PAN card, an official invoice showing their PAN, or if they are GST registered, their GST registration certificate – which sometimes prints their PAN) is effortless and ultimately the most legally defensible.
3. Privacy note and related restrictions
- For individuals or essentially proprietors or proprietorship entities, PAN look-up is restricted and not typically searchable by name for privacy reasons. For a company, the PAN may indeed be publicly present in government filings. If it is not available by these means, please do not attempt to engage non-official or non-permitted methods of discovery. You can always ask the company or utilize its official publications (as discussed above).
Cross-checking and Best Practices
- Always cross-check any TAN/GSTIN/PAN you come across: match the exact legal name, state, and address on the appropriate government portal.
- For GSTIN, before claiming any ITC, check the status: Active/Cancelled, the principal place of business and the registration date from the GST portal.
- For TAN, check for the TAN using the Income Tax e-filing portal’s “Know TAN” to verify you’re using the right TAN for your TDS challans.
Common Pitfalls and How to Mitigate Them
- Incorrect spelling: Understand that the names you see for a company may not be the legal name, or could differ from the trade name. Use the legal name/CIN from the MCA.
- Multiple matches: Name collisions happen often. Narrow down by state, CIN, or registered address.
- Fake GSTINs: Sometimes scammers provide fake GSTINs. You can validate any GSTIN through the official GST Portal.
- PAN privacy rule: Don’t expect to find all PAN by name; it is against privacy rules and regulations. Only use your request for a roster or a formal request to find them if necessary.
Quick, step-by-step overview (one-page workflow)
- Legal Name & CIN: Check MCA Master Data.
- TAN: Use Income Tax e-filing → Know TAN Details (search by name + state).
- GSTIN: Use the GST portal Search Taxpayer (by name or PAN); if you need to, use a third-party GST search tool (whitelisted) and verify on the GST portal.
- PAN: Find PAN in MCA master data/incorporation documents; if it isn’t there, ask the company. Never use privacy-infringing or unofficial lookups.
Conclusion
Finding a company’s TAN, GSTIN, and PAN by name is not that complicated if you just go through the official route using government portals. Start with the MCA master data to verify the legal name, then the Income Tax e-filing for TAN, then the GST portal for GSTIN, which should always be authenticated with a return to the government site. For PAN, you can use the MCA data or request it directly from the company to avoid compliance issues or privacy issues.
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