Recruitment In Railways: Selection Will Be Done Based On Merit Of Std-10 Without Examination Or Interview

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a code that acts as an identification for individuals, families and corporates (Indian and Foreign as well), especially those who pay Income Tax.

It is a unique, 10-character alpha-numeric identifier, issued to all judicial entities identifiable under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961. The Income Tax PAN code and its linked card are issued under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act. It is issued by the Indian Income Tax Department under the supervision of the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and it also serves as an important proof of identification.[1]

It is also issued to foreign nationals (such as investors) subject to a valid visa , and hence that PAN is not acceptable as a proof of Indian citizenship.[2]

Structure of a PAN code

The PAN code is a 10-character long alpha-numeric unique identifier.

An example of a PAN code number would be in the form of AELPU5278H

The PAN is mandatory for a majority of financial transactions such as opening a bank account, receiving taxable salary or professional fees, sale or purchase of assets above specified limits etc.; especially high-value transactions.

The primary purpose of the PAN is to bring a universal identification to all financial transactions and to prevent tax evasion by keeping track of monetary transactions, especially those of high-net-worth individuals who can impact the economy.

The PAN is unique to each individual and is valid for the lifetime of the holder, throughout India. Since a PAN is linked to an individual, a point worth to mention is that the PAN code is therefore not affected by any change of address.

Income Tax PAN card is issued under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act.
The PAN structure is as follows: AAAPL1234C: The five (5) first characters are letters, followed by four (4) numerals, and the last (10th) character is a letter.
The three (3) first characters of the code are 3 letters forming a sequence of alphabets letters from AAA to ZZZ
The fourth (4th) character informs about the holder of the card. Each holder is uniquely defined by a type of holder defined by a letter from the list below:
A — Association of Persons (AOP)
B — Body of Individuals (BOI)
C — Company
F — Firm
G — Government
H — HUF (Hindu Undivided Family)
L — Local Authority
J — Artificial Juridical Person
P — Individual (PROPRIETOR)
T — Trust (AOP)
E – LLP (Limited Liability Partnership)
The fifth (5th) character of the PAN is the first (1st) character of either:
(a) of the surname or last name of the person, in the case of a "Personal" PAN card, where the fourth (4th) character is "P" or
(b) of the name of the Entity, Trust, society, or organisation in the case of Company/ HUF/ Firm/ AOP/ Trust/ BOI/ Local Authority/ Artificial Judicial Person/ Govt, where the fourth character is "C","H","F","A","T","B","L","J","G".
The last (10th) character is an alphabetic digit used as a check-sum to verify the validity of that current code.

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