What is the full form of PAN

PAN: Permanent Account Number

PAN stands for Permanent Account Number. This is a card containing unique ten-digit alpha numeric combination issued by the Income Tax Department of India. This card is issued by Income Tax Department of India, under section 139A of Indian Income Tax Act 1961.

Format of a Pan Card

The unique ten digit alpha numeric combination is arranged in the following format:

First five characters are letters, next four are numerals and the last character is also letter.

The first three letters are sequence of alphabets, from AAA to ZZZ.

The fourth character specifies about the holder of the card. Each holder is uniquely defined as below:

• A - Association of Persons (AOP)
• B - Body of Individuals (BOI)
• C - Company
• F - Firm
• G - Government
• H - HUF (Hindu Undivided Family)
• L - Local Authority
• J - Artificial Judicial Person
• P - Individual
• T - AOP (Trust)

The fifth character shows on the PAN card is the first character of the surname or last name of the person, in the case of a "Personal" PAN card, where the fourth character is "P" or of the name of the Entity, Trust, society, or organization in the case of Company/ HUF/ Firm/ AOP/ BOI/ Local Authority/ Artificial Judicial Person/ Government, where the fourth character is "C","H","F","A","T","B","L","J","G".