Now you can get your PAN card in 5 minutes
Continuing its attempts to ease taxpayers' life, the government will launch a real-time PAN issuance process through Aadhaar's KYC facility. The Aadhaar KYC allows individuals to verify their details, like thumb impression, using biometric identification. The PAN will be assigned in 5-6 minutes and the card would be delivered later. An app to help people pay taxes online is also in the works.
What is a Pan Card?
PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number, assigned in the form of a laminated card by the Income Tax Department and is necessary for filing "return of income, sale or purchase of any immovable property beyond a certain amount, and sale or purchase of a motor vehicle," etc.
Government to 'expeditiously' provide PAN card to all
Jan Dhan Yojana's success has propelled Central government's plans to start a mega programme to expeditiously provide Permanent Account Number (PAN) card to all. Government said that it was planning to make PAN card compulsory for transactions higher than Rs.1 lakh but was worried that majority rural population didn't possess it. It said online facility for the issuance of PAN cards will soon begin.
What was the Jan Dhan Yojana?
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is a National Mission for Financial Inclusion to guarantee access to financial services, such as "Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension". Under this scheme, 19.02 crore bank accounts were opened, and the amount deposited was Rs.25913.56 crores.
SIT gives its recommendations to curb black money
The Special Investigation Team in its recommendations to SC gave several stringent steps to curb black money generation. SIT's main contention was that quoting of PAN should be made compulsory for "all sales and purchase of goods and services where the payment exceeds Rs.1 lakh". It also suggested to check black money in the education sector going to charities and religious institutions.
PAN-card may become compulsory for transactions beyond a limit
The Centre disclosed that it was considering making it "mandatory for people to furnish PAN Card details for cash transactions" beyond a certain limit to control the production of domestic black money. This news was disclosed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley through a Facebook post. He said the government was trying to make plastic money the norm and cash an exception.
Government makes PAN card more efficient
The government announced that it was launching a "PAN activity monitoring and analysis software tool". This tool will help the IT department check the transactions history of any person and will aid in the efficient tracking of the black money trail. The digital and smart platform is being called the Income Tax Business Application-Permanent Account Number (ITBA-PAN) and is right now in testing stage.
PAN card compulsory for opening bank accounts
The government announced the plan of making PAN card mandatory for opening all bank accounts from 1 January 2016. This step is aimed towards checking domestic black money. PAN card would be needed for buying gold or jewellery worth Rs.2 lakhs and above or for paying a Rs.50,000 bill at any restaurant. The government said this will also reduce bank accounts with forged details.
