The Income Tax Department has made changes in rules for issuing Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card. It has vide notification S.O. 3794 (E) dated 23.12.2013, amended Rule 114 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 to provide , inter alia, that the application for allotment of PAN shall be accompanied by proof of date of birth of the applicant in addition to proof of identity (POI)/proof of address (POA). The notification has also amended the prescribed list of documents which can be furnished as POI/POA and Aadhar Card has been included as one of the POI and POA document.

The number of PAN Card holders in the country as on 17.2.2014 is 20.24 crores. So far, 9.73 lakhs PAN have been issued where Aadhar has been captured and seeded in PAN database for maintain uniqueness.

Identification of bogus/duplicate PAN Card is an integral part of the data management system. In order to ensure that bogus PAN cards are not issued, the Income-tax Department has started capturing Aadhar number, as mentioned in para above, in PAN application forms in cases where it is available so that the additional uniqueness is brought in PAN allotment process.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri J.D. Seelam in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

PAN issuance rules now require proof of date of birth and allow Aadhaar as identity/address proof to ensure uniqueness. Applications for allotment of Permanent Account Number must now include proof of date of birth alongside proof of identity or address; the list of acceptable documents has been amended to include Aadhaar as both POI and POA. The Income tax Department has started capturing and seeding Aadhaar numbers in the PAN database, where available, to enhance uniqueness and assist detection of bogus or duplicate PANs.