WHAT IS PAN?
Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a
ten-digit alpha numeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card,
by the Income Tax Department, to any “person” who Applies for it or to
whom the department allots the number without an application. PAN
enables the department to link all transactions of the “person” with the
Department. These transactions include tax payments, TDS/TCS credits,
returns of Income/wealth/gift/FBT, specified transactions,
correspondence, and so on. PAN, thus, acts as an identifier for the
“person” with the tax department. PAN was introduced to facilitates
linking of various documents, including payment of taxes, assessment,
tax demand, tax arrears etc. relating to an assesses, to facilitate easy
retrieval of information and to facilitate matching of information
relating to investment, raising of loans and other business activities
of taxpayers collected through various sources, both internal as well as
external, for detecting and combating tax evasion and widening of tax
base.