PAN or the Permanent Account Number is nothing but a 10 digit, digitally coded, alphanumeric number that is issued by India s Income Tax Department. It is issued by them in the form of a well laminated card. Since the year 2005, it has become mandatory for all Income Tax return filers to have a PAN, since it is required by virtue of law to be quoted in every possible correspondence with the Tax Authority in India.

Besides, PAN is required to be quoted in various other documents submitted in relation to the specific transactions issued by Central Board of Direct Taxes or CBDT. These can be related to purchase and sales of immovable properties, motor vehicles, cash payments, amounts that exceed certain specified limits in restaurants and hotels, foreign travel tours, etc. In fact these days PAN is also required when one makes purchase of a cellular or landline phone connection. Apart form these, PAN is also needed in certain special bank dealings, such as when one make time deposits, that exceed over fifty thousand rupees in post offices and banks, or even simply fifty thousand in banks.

In India, it has been recognized as a statutory liability of any individual to mention the PAN number in any document pertaining to (as specified by CBDT or Central Board of Direct Taxes) transactions of financial and economic nature.

Law allows an individual to have only one status PAN card number.

PAN is compulsory to be notified in Income Return statements.

Any tax paying individual who has to file income returns either for their own selves or in fact even on other s behalf must have a PAN.

For entering into any form of financial dealing that requires PAN number to be quoted, must have a PAN.

Assessing Officers may either allot the PAN number to an individual at his own choice, or at that person s request.?

The superior and new Pan Card India

The newer PAN card is much superior, with colored photographs of applicants who are individuals. It cannot be tampered and the in built and technologically advanced features of UV lines and holograms make them more secure and forgery-resistant.

For new and more upgraded PAN card services, the UTITSL charges sixty rupees for each application, while the simplified form of PAN costs five rupees.

As per the IT departments request, minimum one counter has been placed in five hundred and one cities, by UTITSL,( that are mostly seen at IT offices).

More counters have been set up in the bigger cities by UTITSL, with fifty branches even having UTI MF customer service counters.

The PAN database is held by the government with UTITSL having no right to use it.

While the validity of the existing cards cannot be questioned, one can always get a new one.

The existing ones will remain valid and the new cards to be obtained are only a matter of choice.

Those having permanent account numbers, without a card to support it, may ask the IT department to issue them a card, either of the existing type or the laminated type. One can also apply for the smart card in such cases.

Those who made their pan card application by 30th of June, 2003, are entitled to the old card by rule. However such individuals, at their discretion can always pay sixty rupees and apply for the new one. Applicants who selected to apply pan card 1st July onwards would be entitled to the new card automatically, and do not have to do anything specific to get the new issue