PAN Penalty
For conducting any type of financial transaction, even if a Minor is opening a bank account then also, he or she must have a PAN Card. It acts as a legit identity proof that he or she is a part of the Indian Financial System. PAN is mandatory for every Individual who is residing in India and carrying out financial transactions in the country. Individual is to be penalized if he or she is having more than one PAN Card with the same name also.
Penalty for multiple PAN card
According to section 139 A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 a person can hold only one PAN Card. This section also provides information about eligibility to apply for PAN Card. The seventh provision of this section states, “No person who has already been allotted a permanent account number under the new series shall apply, obtain or possess another permanent account number.”
Possessing Duplicate PAN Card
At times, by mistaken individuals possess two PAN Cards. Everyone needs to know that a person cannot keep duplicate PAN Cards. Here are some of the situations in which a person has more than one PAN card:
1. When multiple applications filed by an individual: Cases happened that an individual filed an application for PAN Card online and does the submission of the form. But due to some technical glitch, an application might get rejected in PAN Database. Then an individual chooses an offline method to apply for the PAN Card. By anyhow, if the concerned PAN authority receives the latter form applied via online mode, there is a possibility that two PAN Numbers issued to the same individual. In that case, individual needs to surrender one of their PAN Card to concerned authority.
2. Changing of PAN Details: Two situations are related to this. One is addresses in PAN card and the other is name in PAN Card. It has been observed that after marriage, many women want to change surname and ultimately apply for a new PAN Card, it will result in having more than one PAN Card.
3. In the case of change in the address, the PAN Card holder does not need to get it rectified but only the corresponding address should be changed. One should not apply for the fresh PAN application rather gets it to change in the existing PAN through the website or offline method.
4. Intent of the PAN Holder: If any of the individual intentionally applies for duplicate PAN card for the tax evasion, then this situation is defrauding the tax agencies or government. Misusing PAN for personal benefits may result in paying penalty and other consequences.
PAN Penalty for Duplicate/Multiple PAN Cards
According to Section 139A (7) of Income Tax Act- No person who has already having a Permanent Account Number under the new series shall apply, obtain or possess another PAN.
According to Section 272B of Income Tax Act- Fine is to be imposed of Rs. 10,000 upon compliance failure with section 139A and moreover any person when asked to provide his or her PAN and in case they provide false Permanent Account Number shall also be fined by the Assessing Officer.
How to make surrender of Additional PAN Cards
It is quite normal that sometimes individual intentionally or unintentionally apply for additional PAN cards.
There are two ways through which any individual can surrender their additional PAN cards:
Online Surrender: For individuals who want to surrender their additional PAN through online mode need to visit the official website of Income Tax Department of India at (http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/default.aspx).
• Login your account and enter all the required details which includes: Name, Contact number, DOB, Father’s name and your address.
• Further, individual must mention the PAN which is to be surrendered and which must be retained in the application form.
• After submission, individual will receive an acknowledgment which can be used as a proof of surrendering the additional PAN.
Manual/Offline Surrender:
Individual who is willing to surrender PAN Card via offline mode, required to fill the PAN correction form and after that submit the form to Assessment officer under whose jurisdiction individual comes.
Under column 11, in PAN Correction form, individual needs to mention about retaining and surrendering details of the PAN. Individual needs to attach the copy of the PAN that needs to be submitted along the application of form. Acknowledgement slip given after form submission which works as a proof of PAN surrender.
To avoid any PAN Penalty, it is being advised to follow always the guidelines of Income Tax Act and execute accordingly. Minimizing this activity will help in carrying out best financial transaction and ultimately development to the nation.
