Permanent Account Number or PAN is an important document in India. Issued by the Income-Tax department, PAN Card helps in identifying the various taxpayers across the country. All financial activities of a PAN card holder are mapped with their unique 10-digit PAN. Due to this, it is essential to verify the Permanent Account Number before essential financial activities. The PAN card verification online confirms the identity of individuals and entities, and thus promotes transparency, traceability and legal compliance. By checking the PAN details online, organisations can authenticate the identity of individuals and verify their details. Further, with PAN verification, the users can safeguard themselves against PAN card fraud, unauthorised transactions and any chance of financial losses.
Understanding PAN Card verification
The online PAN verification process allows the User to check and confirm if the PAN card is genuine or not. For this purpose, the Income Tax department has authorised Protean eGov Technologies Limited or the Protean portal as one of the agencies to handle PAN verification process online for the eligible entities. In order to verify PAN online, it is important to have the PAN number, name and date of birth details to use the ‘Verify Your PAN’ feature. The Income Tax Department then conducts the check in its database of records and confirms whether the PAN number details provided are valid or not.
Here are a few scenarios when online PAN verification comes handy –
- For the organisations, the PAN verification feature is useful to find out if the PAN details provided to them are genuine or not.
- For the individuals, the ‘Verify Your PAN’ feature allows them to check if the PAN card issued to them is unique or not.
- It is useful particularly when there are any doubts about the authenticity of the PAN card.
- It also comes handy when the person has accidentally lost the PAN card and wants to make sure that they have the correct PAN number with them.
Modes of PAN card verification
There are three types of facilities available for PAN verification, which the users can avail as per their requirement. The Protean portal provides the online PAN verification facility only to those businesses that have been duly authorised by them. In order to verify the PAN details, the user needs to login to the TIN central system by signing with the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Once the DSC is authenticated, the user will have access to the online system to upload the file carrying PANs.
Here is a brief description of the three modes of PAN card verification service –
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Screen-based verification
To use this mode of verification, the user first needs to login the system. The PAN that needs to be verified can be entered in the provision made on the screen. Once the user clicks submit the results are displayed instantly. Wait for some time till the response is displayed on the response screen. The user can find out the results of up to five PANs on the screen.
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File-based and screen-based verification
The users need to login to the system first and then they can check the details of about 1000 PANs at once. For this, the user can upload a file having the list of PANs. The user needs to make sure that the file structure is as per the template available on Protean portal. Once the file is uploaded, the user may have to wait for about 24 hours and then, they will receive a response file containing details of the PANs. However, the user will get a rejection request if the format of the file is incorrect. The response can be downloaded from the system within 15 days.
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Software or API-based PAN verification
Software or API-based PAN verification is digital verification of the PAN on a software/app with the help of a dedicated API provided by a third-party service into their software.
Who can do PAN Card verification online
Entities who can avail of this facility:
- Point of Presence (PoP) approved by PFRDA
- Direct (Life & General) Brokers approved by IRDAI
- RBI-approved Authorised Dealer (Category II)
- Mutual Fund Advisors
- Registrar and Transfer Agents who are approved by SEBI
- Investment Advisors who are approved by SEBI
- All Banks
- Insurance Web Aggregators
- Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) approved by RBI
- Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuers approved by RBI
- Housing Finance Companies
- Insurance Company
- Companies and Government Deductor (Required to file TDS/TCS return)*
- Mutual Funds
- Credit Card Companies/ Institutions
- Central Recordkeeping Agency of National Pension System
- DSC issuing Authorities
- Depository Participants
- Credit Information Companies approved by RBI
- KYC Registration Agency (KRA)/ Central KYC Registry
- Educational Institutions established by Regulatory Bodies
- Companies required to furnish Annual Information Return (AIR) /Statement of Financial Transaction (SFT)
- Stock Exchanges/ Commodity Exchanges/ Clearing Corporations
- Goods and Services Tax Network
- Depositories
- Government Agencies (Central/State)
- Income Tax Projects
- Reserve Bank of India
- Department of Commercial Taxes
- Stamp and Registration Department
- Central Vigilance Commission
- Payments Bank approved by RBI
- RBI authorised Payment And Settlement System Operators
- Open Network for Digital Commerce
- Public Financial Management System (PFMS)
How to do PAN Card verification online on Income Tax Portal
The Income-Tax portal provides the feature of ‘Verify Your PAN.’ Individuals can avail this service, without needing to login. However, the external agencies can only access this service after logging in the portal. With this service, one can check if the details of PAN such as Name, Date of Birth etc. are correct and verified or not. You need to have a valid PAN and a valid mobile number in your possession to avail this service. Here is a step-by-step process to verify your PAN:
Step 1: Go to the homepage of e-Filing portal.
Step 2: Click on ‘Verify Your PAN.’
Step 3: Type in your Permanent Account Number, Full Name, Date of Birth and Mobile Number. Make sure that the mobile number that you enter is with you as the OTP will be received on it.
Step 4: As you continue on the Verification page, type in the 6-digit OTP received and click on Validate. You need to keep in mind that the OTP will be valid only for 15 minutes. The user will get a few attempts to enter the correct OTP. Make sure that you do not take too much time in entering the OTP. Keep a check on the screen for the OTP expiry countdown timer. In case the OTP is not received, click on ‘Resend OTP,’ to generate a new OTP.
Step 5: You can check the PAN status displayed on the screen after successful verification.
How to do PAN card verification with Protean Portal
The Income Tax Department (ITD) has authorised the Protean as one of the agencies to enable the eligible entities to verify Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) with online PAN verification service.
Once the user enters the PAN to check the status, they get to know if the PAN is existing or valid, existing and valid but marked with event, PAN not found in ITD Database, Invalid PAN, Deactivated, Deleted, Fake and more. It is required for the entity to have a Digital Signature Certificate, either Class II or Class III from a licensed certifying authority specified on Protean portal. To avail the facility of online PAN verification, the entity needs to register with Protean first.
On Protean portal, the facility to verify PAN online is offered with one year validity. It needs to be renewed every year, with the annual renewal charge of Rs 12,000 excluding GST (the charge may vary as per latest charge schedule applied by Protean). A system-generated email is sent to the user about two months in advance, informing them that the renewal is due. The user is also informed about the procedure that they need to follow to renew the PAN verification. The user can verify PAN sixty days prior to the expiry date of PAN Verification facility.
Follow the steps below for PAN verification on Protean –
- Login with user ID & Digital Signature Certificate.
- The system will take the user to the ‘Payment’ option.
- Click on ‘Renewal of Facility’ button.
- Fill up the payment details and click on to ‘Submit.’
- The user needs to make payment in Virtual Account Number assigned against the user account of online PAN verification.
- Once PAN is successfully renewed and verified, an email intimation for renewal is done.
How to do PAN card verification online with Aadhaar Card
To verify PAN using details of Aadhaar, one can follow the below steps –
- Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal
- Go to ‘Link Aadhaar’ option available under ‘Quick Links’ of the website.
- Once the user is redirected to the online PAN verification page, enter the PAN and Aadhaar details in the ‘Link Aadhaar status’ section.
- Verify the ‘View Link Aadhaar Status’ for PAN verification details with Aadhaar.
Documents required for PAN Card verification online
| For Organisations | For Digital Signature Certificate | For Registering with Protean |
| Incorporation Certificate | Name of certifying authority | Signed copy of the Terms & Conditions on the organisation’s letterhead |
| Copy of license or certificate issued by regulatory body (if applicable) | Class of Digital Signature Certificates | Non-Disclosure Agreement on the organisation’s letterhead |
| Declaration by Entities | Serial number mentioned on Digital Signature Certificate | Authorisation letter |
| Latest year Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss account statements | Validity period mentioned on DSC | Screenshots of Digital Signature Certificate |
| Authorised Capital, disbursed amount, existing number of customers, expected number of customers year mentioned on letterhead | ||
| Documents to validate category of the organisation | ||
| PAN of organisation | ||
| TAN of organisation | ||
| Contact details |
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Frequently Asked Questions About PAN Card verification online
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Can I apply for an Online PAN Verification facility on plain paper?
No. There is no offline procedure to verify PAN. One needs to register online for the PAN Verification facility.
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How long is online PAN verification valid?
The facility to verify PAN online is available for one year. It can be renewed on an annual basis with the charge of Rs 12,000 excludingGST.
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With the PAN verification facility, can a user find out the contact details of the PAN holder?
No. With an online PAN verification facility, one can not find out the sensitive personal details of the PAN holder. Once the PAN is verified, the following fields are displayed – PAN status, Matching status of Name, DOB, Aadhaar-PAN linking status.