New Delhi, Apr 27 (IANS): Quoting of the Unique Identity Number (UIN) allotted to diplomats and multilateral agency officials serving in India is necessary on the sale invoice, the government said on Friday.

A Finance Ministry release here said that complaints had come in from foreign diplomatic missions and UN bodies about the unwillingness of vendors and e-commerce sites to record the 15-digit UIN number while making sales to them.

"UIN is a 15-digit unique number allotted to any specialised agency of the United Nations Organisation or any multilateral financial institution and organisation notified under the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947, consulate or embassy of foreign countries.

"First two digits of the UIN denotes State code where such entity is located," it said.

"Recording of UIN while making such supplies will enable foreign diplomatic missions/UN organisations to claim a refund of the taxes paid by them in India."

"It has been noticed many big brands for groceries, clothing, superstores etc. have been denying this facility to embassies and consulates. Therefore, it is advised that suppliers should not decline to record the UIN of the embassies/missions/consulates or UN organisations on the tax invoice," it said.

The government clarified that recording of the UIN on the invoice is a necessary condition under the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) rules and any contravention may attract punitive action.

"It may be noted that supply to foreign diplomatic missions/UN organisations is like any other business to consumer supply and will not have any additional impact on the supplier's tax liability," the statement said.

"Search functionality for UIN is available on the GST Common Portal in 'Search Taxpayer' option. On entering UIN and captcha, details of the entity will be available," it added.