Everything you need to know about newly approved PAN 2.0 project

The existing PAN cards will continue to remain valid under the PAN 2.0 project with users supposed to automatically receive an electronic version of it in their mail ID, without applying for it, the Income Tax department said on Nov 26.

However, those who want a physical card will have to apply and pay ₹50 for it if they live within the country.

Responding to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said, “If existing PAN holders want to make any correction/updation of their existing PAN details such as email, mobile or address or demographic details such as name, date of birth etc, they can do so at free of cost after the PAN 2.0 Project commences,”

“Till the time the PAN 2.0 project is rolled out, the PAN holders can avail the Aadhaar-based online facility for updation/correction of email, mobile, and address free-of-cost,” he added.

The FAQs were released a day after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the ₹1,400 crore project.

Apart from this, the department also said that QR codes will be part of the project, but that the feature has already been rolled out for validating PAN and other details.

All of the PAN and TAN-related services which are currently hosted on three different portals (e-filing portal, UTIITSL, and Protean e-Gov), will move to the income tax department portal.

End-to-end services — from application to allotment, online validation, linking with Aadhaar, and updation will also be provided with the entire process being paperless, the report quoted the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) officials as saying recently.

The government has decided to make PAN as the "common business identifier" for all digital systems of specified govt agencies, as announced in the Union Budget 2023.

The government also hopes to check instances of law violations wherein individuals hold multiple PAN cards, officials were quoted as saying.