PAN Card number online: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has rolled out the facility to provide instant Permanent Account Number (PAN) to applicants. They can now generate instant PAN with the help of their Aadhaar number within five minutes. New PAN applicants can avail the facility on the Income Tax e-filing website, https://www.
On clicking this option, the user is taken to a new window which provides two options – to get a new PAN and to check the status or download the PAN. On this window, the users can also get useful information like guidelines and frequently asked questions regarding PAN.
On clicking “Get New PAN” option, the user is taken to a simple five-step process to get a PAN. In the first step, the user has to enter his/her Aadhaar number, along with a Captcha confirmation code, and confirm that the user fulfils all the conditions for applying a PAN through Aadhaar.
A One-Time Password (OTP) is then sent to the number linked to the applicant’s Aadhaar, which has to be entered in the second step, after which the third step includes validating the details in the Aadhaar. The fourth option to validate an e-mail ID is not compulsory and is up to the user’s discretion. The PAN is provided in the fifth and the last step.
In the option to ‘Check Status/Download PAN’, those users who have applied for PAN through Aadhaar can check the status of their application and download the PAN, simply by entering the Aadhaar number and a Captcha code.
Who all can apply for PAN with Aadhaar?
To apply for PAN using Aadhaar, the user must fulfil the following criteria:
- The user should not have previously been allotted a PAN
- The user’s phone number should be linked to the Aadhaar
- The Aadhaar should have the user’s complete birthdate
- The applicant should not be a minor at the time of applying
Why should you use instant PAN facility?
Applying for PAN through Aadhaar has several benefits:
- The application for PAN through Aadhaar is free of cost, as against the full application
- The process is easy and paperless, unlike the full-fledged application which requires the user to send the application papers for PAN by post to the specified address even in cases of online application
- PAN is generated within 5 minutes of application
- Aadhaar-generated PAN has the same value as that of that physical PAN card
- It does not require any large stack of papers and only needs an Aadhaar number and a linked phone number.
While presenting the Union Budget for FY 2020-21, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government will create the provision of allotting PAN instantly using the Aadhaar, in an attempt to make the process simple for applicants.