In a recent development the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has introduced significant updates to the address-related fields in GST registration functionalities.
These updates, effective immediately, involve new registration, amendment applications (both Core and Non-Core), and geocoding business addresses.
The advisory issued by the GST Network clarifies several key improvements based on user feedback and analysis of operational data.
Here are the key updates:
Addresses in India: Users are now required to select PIN Code, State, District, and City/Town/Village from auto-suggestions, ensuring accurate data entry. Special characters allowed include hyphen (-), forward slash (/), ampersand (&), comma (,), apostrophes (‘), hash (#), period (.), small brackets (), inverted commas (” “), colon (:), semi-colon (;), underscore (_), and space. Special characters are not permitted at the beginning of the entry.
Addresses outside India: For fields like Zip Code, State, and District, users can enter alphanumeric values and specific special characters. Similar to Indian addresses, special characters are not allowed at the beginning of entries unless specified for Zip Code, district and State.
Notably, Clear instructions regarding permissible input values for each field have been added, accessible by hovering over the respective field icons.
Existing data stored in the system will remain unaffected, even if it contains special characters that are now restricted. However, during amendment applications, system validations will enforce the updated criteria.
These updates respond directly to user feedback, addressing common issues such as incorrect usage of special characters (e.g., hash (#) at the beginning of the Building Number field).
Locality/Sub-locality Field – This field is no longer mandatory. Users leaving it blank or mapping it to a different PIN Code will receive warnings but can proceed with registration by confirming their intent.
These changes apply universally across various taxpayer categories, including Regular, SEZ Unit, SEZ Developer, Composition, Input Service Distributor, and Casual Taxpayers.
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