The Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued Notification dated 17th October, 2011, pertaining to application for the allotment of a Permanent Account Number (PAN) in revised Forms 49A for Indian citizens and new 49AA for foreign citizens/entities. However, in practice, the said changes were not yet operative. However, recently, the said two forms have been made operational w.e.f. 8th April, 2012. Certain guidelines have also been laid down to provide for steps for making the application, details of mode of payment and other instructions such as mode of submissions of documents and instructions for filing of these forms etc.
Thus, with effect from 8th April, 2012, Indian citizens, Indian companies/firms/LLPs/Trusts will have to submit their application for allotment of PAN in revised Form 49A only. Similarly, foreign citizens, foreign companies/firms/LLPs/Trusts etc will have to submit their application for allotment of PAN in Form 49AA only. In our earlier alert (Vol 4 Issue 8 dated 3rd November, 2011) we had made a detailed comparison of both these forms and additional requirements to be included in the new form 49AA in case of foreign citizens. It may be noted that those persons or entities who have already got a valid PAN allotted to them need not apply again for the PAN. The new forms are applicable only for those applicants who had never applied for a PAN or who do not have PAN allotted to them earlier by the Income Tax Department.
Some important points that may be noted with reference to the two forms are:
- Earlier while making application for PAN in case of Individual and Hindu Undivided Family applicants, only one address proof was required to be submitted. However now, if the applicant gives communication address as office address then in such cases the proof for office address as well as proof for residential address is required to be submitted.
- Hitherto, the filing fees for the PAN application forms could be paid in cash. Now no cash transactions will be allowed for making payment towards application for PAN in physical form. The same can be done only by Demand draft / cheque or credit/debit cards. And in case of applicants who provide only a foreign address, the payment will be accepted only by way of Demand Draft payable at Mumbai.
- As per RBI guidelines, an applicant making electronic payment is required to provide Personal Identification Number while executing an online transaction. Accordingly before making payment for online PAN / TAN applications using debit/credit card, the applicant must ensure that the PIN is obtained from the respective bank.
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