Pan Registration

Understanding the Permanent Account Number (PAN)

As mentioned above, the PAN is a combination of 10 characters. This combination can be explained as follows:

The first 3 characters are alphabetic and can be any combination from the English alphabet.

The fourth character is also an alphabet which denotes the category of the taxpayer. The categories are as follows:

• A – Association of Persons
• B – Body of Individuals
• C – Company
• F – Firms
• G – Government
• H – Hindu Undivided Family
• L – Local Authority
• J – Artificial Judicial Person
• P – Individual
• T – Association of Persons for a Trust

The fifth character is also an alphabet and it denotes the first character of the cardholder’s surname.

The next four characters are numeric and are random in nature. The last character is an alphabet again.

Types of PAN Cards In India

PAN cards are issued to different tax-paying entities. Based on that, the types of PAN are:

• PAN Card for Indian Individuals
• PAN Card for Indian Companies
• PAN for Foreign Citizens
• PAN for Foreign Companies

PAN Cards issued to individuals have the person's photograph, name, father's name, date of birth, signature, an authenticity hologram, QR Code, date of issue of the PAN, and the Permanent Account Number. PAN Cards issued to companies have the name of the company, its date of registration, the PAN number, hologram, QR Code, and date of issue of PAN. It will not have a photograph or signature.