How to Check If Your PAN Card Is Active or Deactivated

Yes, you have heard it right! You may be one of those 11.44 Lakhs PAN Card holders whose registration has been deactivated or deleted by the Governmentt of India. And the count is only increasing! The aforementioned numbers are as of 27 July 2017.

According to government regulations, a citizen cannot have more than one PAN number. If one holds more than one number, he or she will be subject to paying a penalty of Rs. 10,000 under Section 272B of the Income Tax Act. Besides, the concerned registration will be deleted or deactivated.

Several cases about creation of fake cards have cropped up in different regions across the country. The registration for multiple PANs under the names of non-existing people besides individuals registering themselves with false addresses and other fake information has been reported. It is no surprise if someone used your identity to register for a card. If you find your PAN Card being deactivated though you have not applied for more than one, stay calm. All you need to do is place a complaint to the concerned authority.

Before it is too late, check the validity of your PAN number. What should you do? How do you go about it? Here is a step-wise guideline that you can follow right from the comfort of your space:

1.  Visit the official e-filing website of the Income Tax department, Government of India – http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.

2.  On the home page on the left side, the ‘Services’ column is displayed with clickable links. Click on the ‘Know Your PAN’ link – the 9th in the row.

3.  Clicking on this link will navigate you to another page with options of filling personal details such as Name, Status, Gender, Mobile Number, etc. Enter all your details. The mobile number you enter should match with the one you entered in the registration form while applying for your PAN Card. Mismatch of numbers will deter the process.

4.  After entering all details with no blank space left, click on the ‘Submit’ button.

5.  You will receive a One Time Password (OTP) notification from the Income Tax department on your registered mobile number.

6.  At the same time, you will be navigated to another page with the option of entering the One Time Password (OTP).

7.  Enter the One Time Password and click on ‘Validate’.

8.  If there are no multiple PAN Card registrations under your name, you will be transported to a page authenticating the validity of your card number.

9.  In case the details you entered confirm about the existence of multiple cards, you will come across a pop-up alert asking you to provide additional information. Once you enter these details, you will be navigated to another page that contains details about the validity of your card. This page will contain information if your card(s) have been deactivated or not.

If your PAN Card has been wrongly deactivated, your e-filing login with the particular card number also gets blocked. Do not panic! You may file an application for reactivation. Follow the suggested steps for filing an application. The Income Tax department generally takes 10-15 days to process a request.