The government has made it mandatory to quote the Permament Account Number and the Tax Deduction Account Number on challans from January 1, 2005.
No tax payment will be received by the banks unless a challan bore the PAN of the taxpayer or the TAN of the deductor, as the case may be.
The Income Tax Department has introduced a Tatkal Service for allotment of PAN. This would enable taxpayers to file applications online for PAN and pay service charges through credit cards, a finance ministry release said.
So far, over 36 million people have been allotted PAN. Carrying the PAN and TAN on challans would not only ensure correct crediting of taxes to the taxpayer but also expedite the process, the statement said.
It said that with the introduction of the facilities for filing PAN applications through UTI Investors Ltd and NSDL, the average time for allotment of PAN had come down to about 15 working days.
The apprehension that taxpayers, whose entries did not have PAN, might not get credit for such payment, was not correct as each challan was identifiable by a unique Challan Identification Number, the release said. It was important for all taxpayers to quote their PAN on the challans.
This had become all the more important with the introduction of a single-copy challan under the Online Tax Accounting System, the release added.
Reports had appeared in a section of the press that due to non-quoting of PAN on challans, or its incorrect capture by banks, tax payment transactions were going to a suspense account.
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