Changes made in issuance procedure

According to the new guidelines put in place from February 3, 2014, all individuals who wish to apply for and receive PAN that serves as a proof of identity and is also necessary to carry out several financial transactions other than providing proof of address, proof of identity and date of birth have to self-attest them before producing at the PAN facilitation centre. The new guidelines also require the concerned applicant to produce original documents in lieu of Proof of Identity, Proof of Address and Date of birth for verification by the authorities.

The original documents after due verification shall be returned to the concerned and not be withheld by the PAN facilitation centre.

For the processing of the PAN application, the department shall charge Rs. 105( inclusive of all taxes).

Rationale for such stricter issuance norms

Citing unscrupulous activities of the nature where by providing wrong information or even in case of non-eligibility, individuals get PAN, stringent issuance norms have been put in place to curb fraud in the system.

However, the new procedure is said to arouse worries for the layman as well as foreign applicants might find it hard to get PAN issued in the country.

Earlier, when a substantial difference in the number of people holding PAN card and number of individuals filing income tax return was noticed, Department of Income Tax responsible for the issuance of PAN card was directed to check that an individual or an entity is allotted only a single PAN card.

On the whole with the implementation of the new guidelines, the department expects to make the system foolproof.

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