FM Sitharaman launches scheme for instant allotment of online PAN

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday launched a facility for instant allotment of online PAN on furnishing Aadhaar details.

The Budget 2020-21 had proposed to launch a system under which Permanent Account Number (PAN) shall be instantly allotted online on the basis of Aadhaar without filling up the detailed application form as it sought to further ease the process of PAN allotment.

In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday formally launched the facility.

The ‘beta version’ for instant allotment of PAN on trial basis was started on February 12, 2020 on the e-filing website of the Income-Tax Department. Since then, 6,77,680 instant PANs have been allotted with a turnaround time of about 10 minutes, till May 25, 2020.