AA Edit | PAN 2.0: Long-awaited upgrade

The Central government’s approval for the income tax department’s Permanent Account Number (PAN) 2.0 Project is a long-awaited upgrade for a card that has been in use for decades. The 10-digit alphanumeric number for income tax assesses, which was introduced in 1972 as an optional number, was made mandatory for all income tax payers in 1976. Ever since, the PAN card has not changed much.

With an existing PAN database of 78 crore PANs, the PAN 2.0 project addresses the requirements of taxpayers, focusing on consolidation of multiple portals and efficient services to PAN holders.

Currently, PAN-related services are being offered to people through three different portals — the e-filing portal, UTIITSL portal and Protean e-Gov portal. Through the PAN 2.0 project, all PAN and TAN related services will be hosted on a single unified portal of the income tax department.

The unified portal will also host all end-to-end services related to PAN and TAN, like allotment, updating, correction, online PAN validation (OPV), know your AO, AADHAAR-PAN linking, verify your PAN, request for e-PAN and request for reprint of PAN card.

Apart from integration of platforms, the income tax department will also switch to completely paperless processes for applying for a PAN card. The issue of PAN cards will get faster and they will be protected through enhanced security measures, including a PAN data vault.

Under the new project, a centralised mechanism for resolving the issue of duplicates would minimise the instances of one person holding more than one PAN, which will improve tax administration in the country.

While the new PAN card will have a QR code, the income tax department has clarified that the older PAN cards will continue to be valid which is a great relief for people. However, they will have an option to apply for a new card with a QR code now.