Government Enables Instant e-PAN Card Facility – Procedure

PAN or Permanent Account Number holds supreme importance not only for the taxpayers but also for all the citizens of India.  An individual can avail several benefits from a PAN card like it serves as an identity proof, eases the process of opening a bank account, help to file Income Tax returns and conduct financial transactions. 

Earlier the procedure to obtain a PAN was manual, which requires filling up the form along with the documents that take around 15 days. However, now you can attain an instant e-PAN card from the Income Tax Department.

An e-PAN is a digitally signed PAN card formulated in an electronic format. A fundamental requirement to attain an e-PAN is to have a valid Aadhaar number or digital signature. Income Tax Department makes Aadhaar basis to issue an e-PAN instantly.

How will instant e-PAN allotment be beneficial? 

Budget 2020-21 has proposed to launch a new system under which Permanent Account Number shall be instantly issued online based on the Aadhaar information. The new system eliminates the tedious task of filling up a detailed application and streamlines the allotment of PAN.

The process of e-PAN generation will be entirely done online or electronically. Thus, it will have less legal stipulations and paperwork. The availability of instant e-PAN shall save both time and effort of the applicant since one does not have to provide any supporting documents such as address proof, DOB etc. 

The Process to Apply for Instant e-PAN

The online procedure to acquire a PAN is a simplified method and can be carried out quickly. The applicant needs to visit the official website of the Income Tax Department [1] and enter the Aadhaar number and use the Aadhaar-based eSignature to sign the application form. One Time Password (OTP) will be sent to the Aadhaar registered number which helps to verify all the details of Aadhaar (e-KYC) and an e-PAN will be issued instantly.

The Aadhaar plays a vital part in getting a PAN online; an applicant has to ensure that his Aadhaar details are valid because there may be a case of an application rejection, if there is any data mismatch.

The electronic model facilitates the applicants with two options to either get an e-PAN or acquire a physical PAN card along with the e-PAN. If the applicant chooses the latter option, then he has to pay INR107, whereas for e-PAN the charges are INR66 only.

The availability of instant e-PAN is feasible and likely to create a favorable situation for both PAN applicant as well as Income Tax Department.