SIN Validation Information

Validate and learn how the validation works for the Canadian Social Insurance Number.

About the SIN number?

The Social Insurance Number (SIN) number originally created by the government of Canada to track and administer CPP, which was later taken over by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) as a way to track an individuals reporting of taxes.

In the numbers

The first digit of a SIN usually identifies the province in which it was registered, as listed below. However, the government has found it necessary in the past to supply certain regions with SIN numbers assigned to other regions.

• 1 - Atlantic Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador this may also cover overseas residents).
• 2-3 - Québec
• 4-5 - Ontario (#4 includes overseas forces)
• 6 - Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
• 7 - Pacific Region (British Columbia and Yukon)
• 8 - Not used
• 9 - Temporary resident
• 0 - Not used (Canada Revenue may assign fictitious SIN numbers beginning with zero to taxpayers who do not have SINs)

Luhn's Proof

Interactive example of how we did the validation above using Luhn formula.

As an example since you have not tried to validate a SIN Number yet we will use 087727814 as the test number to demonstrate how to use Luhn's formula.

The check digit (x) is obtained by computing the sum of digits then computing 9 times that value modulo 10 (so that is: (36 * 9 mod 10)).

In summary:

1. Compute the sum of the digits (36).
2. Multiply by 9 (324).
3. Take the last digit (4).
4. The result is your check digit.