Do you know how PAN card is issued?

The word PAN stands for Permanent Account Number (PAN) for tax payment purposes.  It is compulsory that a person who makes tax payment on his income must quote PAN under the Income Tax Act, 1961. The applicant for PAN may be Individual, HUF, Company, Firm, Association, Trust, Local authority etc. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has instructed banks not to accept any form/challan in the absence of PAN numbers, for tax payment. However, the non-tax payers can also have PAN card as an identity document or for the purpose of monetary transactions where PAN detail is insisted.

The PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number issued on a laminated card by an assessing officer of the Income Tax Department. The first three letters are the sequence of alphabets selected in random.  The fourth character of the PAN must be one of the following, depending on the type of assesse:

C — Company, P — Person, H — Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), F — Firm, A — Association of Persons (AOP), T — AOP (Trust), B — Body of Individuals (BOI), L — Local Authority, J — Artificial Juridical Person, G — Government.

The fifth character of the PAN is the first character in the surname or last name of the person to whom the PAN belongs (For example PAN card is issued to Raja Chaturvedi then the  fifth character of his PAN is C). The next four characters are random sequential numbers from 0001 to 9999. The last character is an alphabetic check digit.

The allotment and issuance of PAN cards is outsourced to UTI Investor Services Ltd and The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) by the Income Tax Department. The above PAN Service Centers or TIN Facilitation Centers  situated in all cities where there is an Income Tax office, will supply PAN application forms (Form 49A),and  assist the applicant in filling out the form, collect filled-out forms, and issue an acknowledgment slip.

The PAN application is made through the above-mentioned service centers with the following details and information of applicant are required to be submitted with duly filled in form 49A for allotment of PAN cards.

(a)Name of the applicant, In case of individuals details of parents, (b)Date of birth or incorporation,(c) Address, telephone No.,(d)  Status of the company (individual, partnership, Limited Company etc.), (e)Registration No., (f) Source of Income, (g) Name and address of the represented assesse.

Documents to be attached:

1. Photo-copy related to any proof of identity like driving license, aadhar card, voters card, passport etc.,
2. Photo -copies related to any proof of address like passport, Latest Electric bill, Landline telephone bill, property registration or latest tax assessment order etc.
3. Photo copy related to date of incorporation  (Like Certificate of Registration issued by the Registrar of Companies,  partnership deed,   Certificate of Registration issued by the Registrar of LLPs,   Trust deed; or  Certificate of registration number issued by Charity Commissioner, Association of persons (other than Trusts) or Body of Individuals or Local authority or Artificial Juridical Person, Copy of  Agreement; or  Certificate of registration number issued by charity commissioner or registrar of cooperative society or any other competent authority; or  Any other document originating from any Central or State Government Department establishing identity and address of such person).
4. In case of Individuals, proof of date of birth shall be any one of the following documents if they bear the name, date, month and year of birth of the applicant, (viz. Aadhaar card issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India; Voters card, Driving license; or Passport; or Matriculation certificate or Mark sheet of recognised board; or Birth certificate issued by the municipal authority or any office authorised to issue birth and death certificate etc.).
5. After obtaining PAN from the Income Tax department, UTIISL or NSDL as the case may be, will print the PAN card and deliver it to the applicant.

Disclaimer: This article should not be construed as a professional advice under any circumstance. It is clarified to the readers that the contents provided in this write-up are intended for general information only and cannot be relied upon for real-time professional facts. Readers are advised to refer relevant Income Tax rules, UTIISL or NSDL for clarification, if any, before applying or accepting any of the points mentioned above. The author or the website accepts no responsibility whatsoever caused by the use of any information provided in this article and shall not be liable for any losses, claims or damages which may arise because of the contents of this post.

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