Ever wondered what your PAN number signifies?

Have you ever wondered what the 10-character code on your PAN card implies? Your Pan card contains a 10-digit alphanumeric character code known as the PAN number. The PAN (Permanent Account Number) card is the card that is issued by the Income Tax Department of India that serves as the personal identification card of an Indian taxpayer.

The PAN card is a mandatory proof of identification and document that serves helpful in various critical situations of life. It can save from different types of identity crisis that might arise due to a myriad of given conditions in life. For instance, when you wish to get your train or rail ticket booked instantly, this blue identification card serves to be an important piece of document towards ensuring a hassle-free ticket-booking process. Moreover, the PAN (Permanent Account Number) card also proves vital in all the financial transactions carried out by an Indian citizen.

Allocation of the PAN Card

Have you ever thought how the unique PAN number to each Indian citizen gets allotted? The PAN number is a randomly-generated unique stream of character codes. However, it might not be generated randomly entirely. Certain characters on your PAN card tend to have a specific logic behind them. When you are able to understand the logic, you can come across some of the most vital information like the basic information about the specific Taxpayer, and other –just with the help of the PAN card. This type of information derived from the PAN card is very useful to the Income Tax employers and the accountants who usually have to deal with PAN of several vendors, employees, and so more.

The Alphanumeric Combination of the PAN

The PAN card which has now become a mandatory proof of identification by the Government of India comes with its own set of semantics behind the concept of the unique numbering system. Each digit present on the PAN card has its own specific significance. PAN or PAN number is a 10-digit alpha-numeric character code –wherein the first 5 characters tend to be letters, the succeeding 4 characters are numbers, and the last character is a letter again.

All of these 10 digits or characters are divided into 5 distinct parts. Thus, the PAN number is always in the combination of the format say “AAAAA1234A”. This unique alphanumeric combination of the PAN card helps the respective Income Tax Department towards creating unique combinations. As such, two taxpayers in India can never have the same PAN number.

If you are confused about the meaning of each character in the PAN card, let us help you decode the structure in this article.

First Three Characters

You must have observed that the first 3 characters on your PAN card tend to be a series or combination of alphabets. These are random alphabets that are usually decided on the concepts of probability. These are usually from the series of the alphabets including the series AAA to ZZZ. As such, this character combination does not reflect any special information.

The 4^th Character

The 4^th character in the PAN card also represents an alphabet. However, this character is unique and holds a special meaning about the organizational structure of the taxpayer or the PAN card holder. There are various interpretations of the alphabet on the 4^th character of the PAN card. These are as follows:

• P alphabet stands for individuals
• F alphabet stands for the firms
• C alphabet stands for the company
• H alphabet stands for the Hindu Undivided family
• A alphabet stands for the Association of Person
• B alphabet stands for the Body of individuals
• T alphabet stands for the Trust or AOP
• L alphabet stands for the Local Authority
• J alphabet stands for the Artificial Juridical Person
• G alphabet stands for the Government

Therefore, the next time someone mentions the PAN number or series, there is no need to ask for the proper organizational structure of the individual. You can just reach out to the 4^th character of the PAN card and you can get a full idea of the organizational status or structure of the concerned person. The information provided by the 4^th character of the PAN card tends to be immensely useful for the Database developer in the Income Tax Department.

The 5^th Character

This is also an alphabet and represents the 1^st character of the surname of the PAN holder. This information is very useful in determining the identification of the PAN holder. For other types of entities, the 5^th character symbolizes the name of the company or the organization.

Next 4 Characters

These are numbers that are randomly generated based on probability. These numbers do not carry any special information.

The Last Character

This randomly-generated alphabet acts like a Check Digit. It has been added to the PAN card to make it more unique.