PAN

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric identifier, issued by Income Tax Department. Each assessee (e.g. individual, firm, company etc.) is issued a unique PAN.

All existing assessees or taxpayers or persons who are required to file a return of income, even on behalf of others, must have a PAN. Any person, who intends to enter into economic or financial transactions where quoting PAN is mandatory, must also have a PAN.

Section 160 of IT Act, 1961 provides that a minor, lunatic, idiot, mentally retarded, deceased, wards of court and such other persons may be represented through a Representative Assessee.

In such cases,

• In the application for PAN, details of the a minor, lunatic, idiot, mentally retarded, deceased, wards of court, etc. should be provided.
• Details of representative assessee have to be provided in item 14 of the application for PAN.

Permanent Account Number (PAN), as the name suggests, is a permanent number and does not change.

Changing the address though, may change the Assessing Officer. Such changes must, therefore, be intimated to ITD so that the PAN database of ITD can be updated. One can intimate change in address by filling up the form for Request for New PAN Card or/and Changes or Correction in PAN data. This form can be submitted at any TIN-FC or online at Protean e-Gov - TIN website.

No. Obtaining/possessing more than one PAN is against the law and may attract a penalty up to 10,000. Therefore, it is advisable not to obtain/possess more than one PAN.

You may fill and submit PAN Change Request application form by mentioning the PAN which you are using currently on top of the form. All other PAN/s inadvertently allotted to you should be mentioned at item no. 11 of the form and the corresponding PAN card copy/s should be submitted for cancellation along with the form.

Yes. As per procedure prescribed by Income Tax Department, third party verification may be conducted to verify identity and address of PAN applicants along with genuineness of documents submitted by them during PAN application. If found fake, the Income Tax Department may take suitable action.

e-PAN is a digitally signed PAN card issued in electronic form and it is a valid proof of allotment of PAN.

Yes. It is mandatory to mention valid e-mail ID in PAN application form to receive e-PAN.

Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act states that every person who has PAN as on July 1, 2017 is required to link his/her PAN with his/her Aadhaar number. Section 139AA also requires mandatory quoting of Aadhaar while applying for new PAN and also while filing return.

Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline has been extended till March 31, 2022.

(A) You may visit e-filing website of Income Tax Department https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal or Protean e-Gov TIN website www.protean-tinpan.com and link your Aadhaar with PAN.

(B) Alternatively, you can link your Aadhaar with PAN by sending SMS in the following format to 567678 –

The format is: UIDPAN<SPACE><12 digit Aadhaar><SPACE><10 digit PAN>  

For example, if your Aadhaar number is 111122223333 and PAN is AAAPA9999Q, then you are required to send SMS to 567678 as UIDPAN 111122223333 AAAPA9999Q

This is a free service provided by Protean e-Gov. However, SMS charges as levied by the mobile operator will be applicable

You can link your Aadhaar with PAN using Biometric Aadhaar Authentication services. Click here to download Aadhaar Seeding Request Form and visit designated PAN centre for Biometric Aadhaar Authentication along with supporting documents i.e. copy of PAN card and Aadhaar card. Unlike abovementioned online services, linking of Aadhaar with PAN using Biometric Aadhaar Authentication is chargeable.