New PAN card to be issued in 5 minutes using Aadhaar e-KYC

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is working on a real-time basis to issue PANs (permanent account numbers) in a bid to get more people registered with the Income Tax Department.

The government is keen to bring down the time required for registering within the tax regime – be it PAN card or the very process of filing taxes.

According to reports, CBDT is coming out with a plan to issue PAN card numbers in 5 minutes, using an Aadhaar based e-KYC.

According to officials, PAN Cards, which took 45-60 days to be issued earlier, are being benchmarked against SIM Cards in terms of service delivery. And connecting the dots, the IT Dept now feels that if SIM Cards can be issued in 5 minutes using Aadhaar based e-KYC, then why not PAN Cards?

However, while the PAN card number will be issued in 5 minutes flat, the physical delivery of the card would take up to three weeks, say reports.

The government had, in 2015, proposed to issue PAN cards in 48 hours, when it was considered not feasible. But, with the introduction of biometric Aadhaar cards or unique identification cards, which can activate a new SIM within 5 minutes, it has now dawned on the government that this model can be followed to issue PAN cards as well.

Combined with an active and more alert Income Tax department, ready to embrace this technological innovation, this could soon be a reality.

Unified app for paying taxes
The Income Tax Department is also planning to develop a unified app, which can be used to perform various tax-related activities with ease.

This app can be used to file taxes, seek returns and access every form of tax data by following a few steps.

The directorate of systems along with corporate affairs ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes are coordinating work on this system and the app will be developed inhouse considering the security risks and confidential data involved, say reports.