All GST businesses will now have to geocode their addresses: GSTN

GST Network on Friday said it has geocoded 1.8 crore addresses of registered businesses and the functionality is now live for all states and UTs.

Geocoding will help in finding out the exact location of the registered entity and check bogus registrations.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has already conducted a pilot for geocoding in a couple of states.

In an update to businesses, GSTN said the functionality for geocoding the principal place of business address is now live for all States and Union territories.

This feature, which converts an address or description of a location into geographic coordinates, has been introduced to ensure the accuracy of address details in GSTN records and streamline the address location and verification process.

"GSTN has successfully geocoded more than 1.8 crore addresses of principal places of business. Furthermore, all new addresses post-March 2022 are geocoded at the time of registration itself, ensuring the accuracy and standardization of address data from the outset," GSTN said.

Businesses can access the geo-coding functionality in the portal and the system-generated geocoded address will be displayed.

Businesses can either accept it or update it as per their requirements. In cases where the system-generated geocoded address is unavailable, a blank will be displayed, and you can directly update the geocoded address, GSTN said.