Each tax payer in India under the direct orders of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is allotted a Permanent Account Number by the Income Tax Department. It’s a 10 digit unique alphanumeric number, and is compulsory for all financial transactions an individual has engaged in. Anyone can apply for PAN using Form 49A or Form 49 AA. The main objective of PAN is to identify all taxable financial transaction of the PAN holder. PAN does not change with the address of an individual.
PAN Card Ownership
Anyone who is eligible to pay taxes in India can apply for PAN, it can be foreign nationals too. For businesses with total turnover or sales or gross receipt above 5 lakh in previous year must also apply for PAN. PAN number is used to pay direct tax, file for income tax returns, and avoid deduction of extra tax.
As per the Income tax Law having more than one PAN card is punishable under law. PAN also serves the purpose of identity card and is very important for Indian citizen. Its applications are not limited to tax and investments only.
But it is very important that an Indian citizen must have only one pan card on their name and having multiple PAN is a punishable offence and can lead to legal problems leading to being penalized for Rs. 10000 under section 272 B of the Income Tax Act. 1961
Also Read – Transactions in which quoting PAN is mandatory
Procedure to Surrender Duplicate PAN Card
Sometime individuals get two PAN cards allotted due to multiple applications. In case an Individual has been allotted two PAN cards, it is important that the individual submit them willingly to avoid any kind of penalty.
Individuals can submit the surrender application via two methods:
- Online Surrender:
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- The individual with two PAN cards can go online to website of Income Tax Department (visit http://incometax.sparshindia.com/pan/newPAN.asp) and click on the Surrender Pan button.
- An individual can also find a “Online Pan Cancellation Form”, through this any individual who wish to cancel or surrender PAN Card Online can fill the form and submit it online.
- The individual must submit all the relevant details regarding the PAN that they wish to cancel or surrender.
- Individuals can also get their PAN card cancelled or surrendered online via NSDL TIN Facilitation centres or UTI PAN Centres. They must fill the application form “Change in PAN data”. In the last row of the form the individual can enter the details of spare or duplicate PAN card.
- The individual will receive acknowledgement within a month regarding the acceptance of the Cancellation or Surrender.
- Manual Surrender:
The individual need to visit the local assessing officer. The individual can submit personal details as well as details regarding the PAN card he want to surrender via letter or also visit local NSDL TIN Facilitation Centre or UTI PAN Centre. The individual must keep the copy of acknowledgement safe.
Conclusion
Therefore it is very important that an individual must refrain from acquiring two PAN numbers or Cards. In case an individual has acquired two numbers it is imperative that he surrender one of the card to income tax department, this way the individual can avoid punishable behaviour. Also it is important to keep the acknowledgement letter from the IT department. This is helpful in case the PAN is tainted by someone, the acknowledgement copy can save from unnecessary troubles.
