E-PAN becomes a reality

The concept of E-PAN is soon going to be a reality. The Income Tax Department is going to launch a facility under which one will be able to issue PAN (permanent account number) online instantly with the help of Aadhar details. The Income Tax Department will use the details provided in the Aadhar database for creating a unique permanent account number. This will bring an end to the long waiting time which the applicants had to face earlier. Applicants applying for a duplicate PAN card will also be able to avail this service and issue a duplicate in a matter of minutes. This E-PAN service will be provided to the applicants free of cost. People applying for the E-Pan will just have to quote their Aadhaar details and verify it using a one-time password (OTP) sent to the registered phone number linked with Aadhar. The Income Tax Department will get all the necessary documents from the Aadhar database for which the applicants won’t have to submit or upload any document. After generation of the PAN, the applicants will be provided with a digitally signed ePAN along with a QR code which will capture the demographic data besides photo of the applicant in order to prevent forgery. An official of the Income Tax Department said, “The move is part of greater digitisation of income tax services and aimed at providing the facility without anyone having to visit any office”.