How Do You Fix a GST Registration Portal Error?

GST registration errors fall in five places: Part A, the TRN, Aadhaar authentication, Part B, and the period after approval. Where the error appears decides the fix. An error inside Part A or Part B is almost always recoverable on the same screen. An error at the TRN stage or the Aadhaar stage is recoverable only inside a 15-day window. An error reported after approval is usually not an error, because Form GST REG-06 is issued on the common portal. Find your exact error string in the table below.

Anyone unsure which stage they have reached can follow the full registration procedure from the beginning.

Part A declares your PAN and State, and fails in exactly three ways. An OTP expires. A PAN does not match the CBDT database. A Temporary Reference Number expires before Part B is submitted. Rule 8(2)(a) sends Part A's two OTPs to the mobile number and e-mail address linked to your PAN, while the portal screen still labels the fields you type as the destination, so check the PAN-registered inbox when nothing arrives. Only the TRN failure costs you the application. GSTN's registration manual states that where the applicant does not submit the application within 15 days, the TRN and the entire information filled against that TRN are purged.

OTP not received on mobile or email

If no OTP arrives at the address you typed into Part A, check the mobile number and email address registered against your PAN with the Income Tax Department. Rule 8(2)(a) directs the two one-time passwords there, to "the mobile number and e-mail address linked to the Permanent Account Number". The portal screen still says otherwise, labelling the fields Email Address and Mobile Number and noting that the OTPs go to what you enter, so an applicant may experience either. An OTP expires after 10 minutes; resend it from the same screen.

Resend with Click here to resend the OTP in Part A or Need OTP to be resent> Click here in Part B. In Part A the mobile OTP and the email OTP are two different OTPs and both are sent to the PAN-linked contacts under Rule 8(2)(a), while Part B sends a single OTP, which is why re-entering the Part A pair in Part B fails.

PAN validation against the CBDT database fails

Enter the legal name exactly as spelled in the PAN/CBDT database. The portal validates the Constitution of Business against CBDT for a match with the PAN entered in Part A. Fix the PAN record with the Income Tax Department first.

The e-KYC upload follows the same name rule, where GSTN requires that documents carry "your name as spelled in PAN/CBDT database".

TRN expired, and the saved application is gone

Start again at Services > Registration > New Registration. A TRN is valid for 15 days from generation, and GSTN purges the TRN and the entire information filled against it after 15 days. Nothing from the expired draft is recoverable.

A Temporary Reference Number (TRN) is valid for 15 days as a matter of portal housekeeping, and that period is not the 15 days in Rule 8(4A) itself, which fixes the deemed date of submission and begins only after Part B is submitted; that second clock is explained at the authentication link.

GSTN sends the Aadhaar authentication link to the mobile numbers and email IDs of the Promoters/Partners and Authorised Signatories named in Form GST REG-01, not to the applicant's usual inbox. The link is valid for 15 days. Resend it at My Saved Applications > Aadhaar Authentication Status > RESEND VERIFICATION LINK. Resending is blocked for 10 minutes after each send. A link already used once cannot be opened again.

Aadhaar authentication link not received

Go to My Saved Applications > Aadhaar Authentication Status > RESEND VERIFICATION LINK. GSTN sends the link to the mobile numbers and email IDs of the Promoters/Partners and Authorised Signatories. Resending is blocked for 10 minutes after each send.

Practitioners report the link arriving within about half an hour and opening reliably only on a desktop browser, which is experience rather than a GSTN statement.

If Aadhaar authentication link is used once for authentication, same authentication link cannot be accessed again

Resend a fresh link at My Saved Applications > Aadhaar Authentication Status > RESEND VERIFICATION LINK. Each link authenticates one person once. Where the Primary Authorised Signatory and a Promoter/Partner must both authenticate, each receives a separate link.

Mismatch in name as per UIDAI database and in Registration application

Correct the name in the registration application to match the UIDAI record exactly, then resend the authentication link. GSTN sends an email and an SMS to the taxpayer when it detects the mismatch.

An Aadhaar OTP can be requested again only 45 seconds after the previous request.

Missing 15 days costs a plain-OTP applicant nothing and costs a flagged applicant the whole application. Where you opted for Aadhaar authentication and were not flagged, GSTN generates an ARN once 15 days pass and the application continues. Where you were flagged into biometric verification at a GST Suvidha Kendra, or declined Aadhaar authentication, no ARN is generated at all and Form GST REG-01 must be filed again from Part A. GSTN states it plainly for the non-Aadhaar branch: "In case, you are not appearing for Photo Capturing and Document Verification, or you have visited the GSK, but Photo Capturing and Document Verification not completed within 15 days, then no ARN will be generated."

Part B fails on three things: file quality, session length and the digital signature. GSTN rejects a file the system reads as blank and warns on a file it reads as illegible. Uploads are PDF or JPEG only, capped at 100 KB for photographs, 1 MB for proof of appointment of Authorised Signatory and 2 MB for e-KYC documents. Signing with a Digital Signature Certificate requires the dongle inserted and emSigner running with administrator permissions. Digitally signing using DSC is mandatory for an LLP and for companies.

The document uploaded is blank. Kindly upload the document again.

Re-upload the file. The portal blocks the application until a valid document replaces it. Upload PDF or JPEG only: 100 KB for photographs, 1 MB for proof of appointment of Authorised Signatory, 2 MB for e-KYC documents.

The illegible-document warning: RETRY or CONTINUE

The portal shows a warning, not an error, when it reads an uploaded file as unclear. Click RETRY to upload a legible scan, or CONTINUE to proceed with the file as it stands. Because CONTINUE lets the application through, an illegible upload is a common ground for a query later, as practitioners find.

A blank file is a hard block; an unclear file is a dismissible warning that leaves the choice with the applicant.

Part B times out or throws a system error on upload

Click SAVE & CONTINUE on every tab before moving on. Saved tabs survive a timeout and reopen from My Saved Applications against the same TRN; unsaved fields do not. Re-login with the TRN, not with a new Part A.

In case, your DSC is not registered, you will need to register DSC

Insert the DSC dongle, run emSigner (from eMudra) with administrator permissions, then click SUBMIT WITH DSC. Check emSigner from the item tray: double-click the emSigner icon, click Hide Service, select the certificate, click SIGN, enter the dongle PIN.

1. Open the item tray: Click the item tray on your laptop or desktop.
2. Open emSigner: Double click the emSigner icon.
3. Minimise the dialog: Click the Hide Service button to minimize the dialog box.
4. Select the certificate: Select the certificate and click the SIGN button.
5. Enter the PIN: Enter the PIN, which is the dongle password for the attached DSC.

Digitally signing using DSC is mandatory in case of LLP and Companies, and every other applicant may sign with DSC, e-Signature or EVC. GSTN's registration manual names no class of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) at all, and the mandate itself comes from Instruction 7 to Form GST REG-01 read with the portal, so what stops a submission in practice is the dongle, emSigner and administrator permissions.

Nothing is wrong, and no email is needed. The GST registration certificate in Form GST REG-06 is made available on the common portal under Rule 10(1) of the CGST Rules, 2017. No paper copy is issued and no postal delivery exists. Log in at gst.gov.in and open Services > User Services > View/Download Certificates. Where registration was granted by deemed approval under Rule 9(5), Rule 10(5) makes the certificate available on the common portal within 3 days after that period expires.

GST registration approved but mail not received

No mail is needed. Log in at gst.gov.in and open Services > User Services > View/Download Certificates. The certificate in Form GST REG-06 is made available on the common portal under Rule 10(1), CGST Rules 2017, not sent by post.

GST registration email not received

Check the e-mail address on the application, not your usual inbox. At the Part A stage also look in the inbox linked to your PAN, because Rule 8(2)(a) directs the one-time passwords there and Rule 8(3) sends the TRN to the same address, even though the portal screen still labels the address you typed as the destination. An ARN acknowledgement arrives within 15 minutes of submission. Track the application at Services > Registration > Track Application Status instead of waiting.

Every certificate ever issued against your GSTIN is listed under View/Download Certificates, newest first, and the top one is the current one.

TallyPrime raises both of these messages, and gst.gov.in raises neither. Neither string appears anywhere in GSTN's 9,185-word registration user guide, which documents the registration flow error condition by error condition. Google's own autocomplete corroborates it: the sibling suggestion is "gst registration details of the party are invalid or not specified in tally prime". The fix is in your accounting software, where a ledger is missing valid GST details. No action on the GST registration portal will clear either message.

Details of the party are invalid or not specified

TallyPrime raises this message, not gst.gov.in. The string appears nowhere in GSTN's registration user guide. Correct the party's GST details inside the accounting software; no action on the GST registration portal will clear it.

Tally's own documentation writes the message as "GST Registration Details of the Party are invalid or not specified" and places it among the uncertain transactions in the GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B reports, which makes it an exception bucket in a return report rather than a document-generation failure. Tally states the cause in its India GST FAQ: "This exception occurs when certain GST Registration Details are missing or invalid for your party." Tally's documented remedies are Alt+G > Update Party GSTIN to update the party GSTIN in bulk, or Alt+V (Accept As Is) where the GSTIN is in fact correct and you want to proceed; for a single ledger the route is Alt+G > Alter Master > Ledger > select the party > Alt+L (Fetch Details Using GSTIN/UIN), which TallyPrime 2.1 and earlier label Get GSTIN/UIN Info. Every keystroke here is vendor documentation from help.tallysolutions.com, which is also where a reader should verify the current wording.

Details of the company are invalid or not specified

TallyPrime raises this message too, against the company's own GST details rather than a party's. Check the company GST details in the accounting software. GSTN's registration user guide carries no error message in these words.

Four failures cost you the application, and every other error on this page does not. An expired TRN purges Part A and everything entered against it. A missed biometric appointment or an incomplete document verification at a GST Suvidha Kendra generates no ARN at all. A rejection in Form GST REG-05 ends the application. Everything else, from OTP and PAN to uploads, DSC and the missing approval email, is repaired in place, on the same screen or through the same TRN.

No 21-day or 21-working-day period exists anywhere in the current registration rules, and no three-working-day deemed approval exists for Aadhaar-authenticated applicants. Notification No. 94/2020-Central Tax dated 22 December 2020 replaced both figures, and the genuine three-working-day route since 1 November 2025 is the Rule 9A and Rule 14A(4) auto-grant introduced by Notification No. 18/2025-Central Tax dated 31 October 2025.

Two escalation routes exist, and they are not interchangeable. Raise a ticket on the GST Self Service Portal at selfservice.gstsystem.in for any portal or processing fault, with or without an ARN. Where the ARN falls under Central jurisdiction and the complaint is about an officer, CBIC Instruction No. 04/2025-GST dated 2 May 2025 requires each CGST Zone to publicise a grievance email address, and you send that address the ARN, the jurisdiction and a description of the issue. A State-jurisdiction ARN has no national route and goes to that State's own channel.

Before escalating anything, confirm that an Application Reference Number (ARN) exists at all and read Services > User Services > View Notices and Orders, because a notice you have not opened reads as a stalled ARN.

Go to selfservice.gstsystem.in, choose Report Issue, and select the category Registration - New Registration. Pick the sub-category that matches your problem. The portal answers with an FAQ first; if that does not solve it, click "No, I want to lodge my complaint" and the portal issues a ticket number. Track it at selfservice.gstsystem.in/IssueStatus.aspx.

Three sub-categories map to a stuck ARN: New Registration-Deemed Approval Pending after 7 days, New Registration-Application not visible to Tax Officers, and ARN not generated after Aadhar Validation. Further sub-categories appear alongside them in the live list, which GSTN changes without notice.

Route 1, a technical or processing problem: national channels, published on or linked from the GST portal's own footer.

• The Self Service Portal ticket above. Use it for anything the portal did or failed to do, with or without an ARN.
• The Grievance Redressal Portal for GST. The gst.gov.in footer carries the line Log/Track Your Issue: Grievance Redressal Portal for GST, so a national grievance route for portal and technical issues does exist, linked from the portal a stuck applicant is already looking at.
• Grievance Nodal Officers. The gst.gov.in footer also carries a Grievance Nodal Officers link under the heading Help and Taxpayer Facilities, which opens a published list of nodal officers.
• The GSTN Help Desk Number, 1800-103-4786. Carried on the gst.gov.in footer, labelled Help Desk Number. Use the number last of the four: the ticket flow, the Grievance Redressal Portal and the Grievance Nodal Officers list each leave a written, trackable record, and a phone call does not.

Route 2, an officer who has departed from the instructions: your CGST Zone. CBIC Instruction No. 04/2025-GST dated 2 May 2025 (F. No. CBIC-20016/24/2025-GST) lets an applicant with a Central-jurisdiction ARN approach the jurisdictional Zonal Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner by email, where a query was raised in contravention of Instruction No. 03/2025-GST or where the grounds of rejection are objectionable. The Instruction publishes no address itself, so find the address your Zone has notified. The CGST and CX Delhi Zone publicised grievance.cgstdelhi@gov.in by Trade Notice No. 01/2025, published on the zonal website and linked from its home page under Grievance Redressal, and the CGST Bengaluru Zone notified its own address in Public Notice No. 01/2025 dated 9 May 2025. Send that address the ARN, the jurisdiction and a plain description of the issue, and nothing else.

Keep the two routes apart. The national Grievance Redressal Portal is for portal and technical grievances; the CGST Zone email under CBIC Instruction No. 04/2025-GST is for an officer's conduct on a Central-jurisdiction ARN. Sending an officer-conduct complaint to a technical grievance portal only delays the complaint. An address published in the EMAIL column of CBIC's Know Your Jurisdiction tool is a zone administrative address and is never the grievance address the Instruction requires.

A State-jurisdiction ARN has no national route. Instruction No. 04/2025-GST asks the GST Council Secretariat only to invite States to consider a similar mechanism, and State models differ structurally. Use your State commercial tax department's own channel, and treat CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in as the universal fallback for either jurisdiction; a State grievance sent to a CGST Zone must be forwarded on under paragraph 2(iii) of the Instruction. In Delhi, for example, the Department of Trade and Taxes at delhitradetax.delhi.gov.in runs no registration grievance cell and has notified no nodal officer, and what exists instead is the GST Facilitation Centre at 1st Floor, Vyapar Bhawan, IP Estate, New Delhi-110002, with the departmental address ctt.delhi@nic.in.

A helpline number published on a private intermediary's website is not the GST helpdesk, whatever the page calls it. One such page consists of a heading and a mobile number, and the number is unattributed to GSTN.