PAN is an alphanumeric Identification Number issued by the Income-tax Department to identify the Income-tax assessees. This enables the Income-tax department to link the financial transactions, filings,enquiries,tax payments, TDS deductions,correspondences etc., to a particular assessee. It also helps in identifying various investments and business transactions of an assessee.
PAN is an important document for filing Income-tax returns ,but also helps in obtaining various other facilities. In some cases, having PAN is mandatory to do certain transactions (Opening Bank account, obtaining GST number, etc.,)
As per provisions of Income-tax Act,1961, a person cannot have more than one PAN.
What happens if you possess more than one PAN ?
It is an offence under Section 272B of the Income-tax Act,1961 to possess more than one PAN by a person. A penalty of Rs. 10000/- is leviable if anyone is found possessing more than one PAN Number.
Situations where more than one PAN is allotted to same persons
More than one application for allotment
- Due to the urgency of getting the PAN , people tend to make more than one application for allotment and end up getting allotted more than one PAN.
Loss of existing PAN
- People very often lose/misplace their PAN card. Instead of applying for a duplicate PAN Card, they apply for a new PAN and end up getting a new PAN in their name.
Ignorance of Law
- Without knowledge of the provisions of the Income-tax act, and due to ignorance of law, many people get more than one PAN.
What should you do if you have more than one PAN?
To avoid doing something illegal, you need to surrender your PAN allotted to you other than the one regularly used for filing your Return of Income.
Also you should inform your Assessing officer about the inadvertent PAN allotted to you and a request for cancellation of the same also shall be made.
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