The government has announced the PAN 2.0 project. PAN Card 2.0 will be rolled out free of cost to all taxpayers. In line with the Budget 2023 announcement, the government has decided to make PAN the “common business identifier” for all digital systems of specified government agencies. With the new PAN system, it is now easier for the government departments to detect if a person possesses more than one PAN card as well as if someone has given a wrong PAN number. Both of these are offences and may lead to imposition of Rs 10,000 penalty. According to taxation experts, the PAN 2.0 has in-built security measures like dynamic QR code which will automatically detect duplicate PAN cards as well as any wrong information given.
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Under section 272B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, no Indian citizen is allowed to own multiple PAN numbers. Anyone found with a duplicate PAN number may be asked to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000. The government has the technology necessary to check for duplicate PANs. “As per the provisions of Income-tax Act, 1961, no person can hold more than one PAN. In case a person holds more than one PAN, he/she is obliged to bring it to the notice of the Jurisdictional Assessing officer and get the additional PAN deleted/de-activated. In the PAN 2.0, with the improved systems logic for identification of potential duplicate requests for PAN and centralized and enhanced mechanism for resolving the duplicates would minimize the instances of one person holding more than one PAN,” said the ministry of finance in a press release dated November 26, 2024.
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How and why you need to check duplicate PAN card issued under your name
There have been cases where people take out fake documents including a PAN in someone else’s name and even set up companies, etc. Instances of GST fraud, input tax credit fraud etc have been reported where fraudulent companies have used fraudulent documents. Many of these fraudulent companies have been caught with duplicate PANs where the original PAN holder had no idea about his name and details being misused. So, it is important to find out if any duplicate PAN has been issued in your name and get it deactivated.
Chartered Accountant Mihir Tanna told Economic Times that one can check if they have a duplicate PAN by either approaching the jurisdictional assessing officer or using the e-filing ITR portal’s ‘PAN status check’ functionality. The PAN status check functionality can be accessed on the income tax e-filing portal.
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How to surrender duplicate PAN card
According to Protean website, “You may fill and submit PAN Change Request application form by mentioning the PAN which you are using currently on top of the form. All other PAN/s inadvertently allotted to you should be mentioned at item no. 11 of the form and the corresponding PAN card copy/s should be submitted for cancellation along with the form.”
Other PAN number and Aadhaar card mistakes that can lead to penalty
Under the same Section of the Income Tax Act, the income tax department can impose a penalty of Rs 10,000 if anyone is found to have given an incorrect PAN number. This provision is applicable when you are filing your income tax return (ITR) or in other cases where it is mandatory to quote a PAN card number for carrying out. Also, in case you do not remember PAN, you may also quote the Aadhaar card number as the two documents are interchangeable. The Rs 10,000 penalty is also applicable in case a wrong Aadhaar number is given instead of PAN. Besides this, an individual can also be fined for failing to quote a PAN or Aadhaar number in transactions where it is mandatory.
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So in case you have got two PAN cards, it is advisable to surrender one as soon as possible. Also, if you are not sure whether you have a duplicate PAN issued using your documents, then it might be a good idea to check right now.
