Long-term Account Number (PAN) is a ten-digit distinct alphanumeric number released by the Earnings Tax Department. PAN is issued in the form of a laminated plastic card as given listed below (commonly referred to as PAN card):
Now we shall go over on the structure of the 10 characters of PAN. For this purpose we will take an illustrative PAN as provided below:
Out of the very first five characters, the first 3 characters represent the alphabetic series ranging from AAA to ZZZ.
The 4th character of PAN represents the status of the PAN holder.
T” stands for Trust
5th character of PAN represents the very first character of the PAN holder’s last name/surname in case of an individual. In case of non-individual PAN holders 5th character represents the first character of PAN holder’s name.
Next 4 characters are consecutive numbers running from 0001 to 9999
Last character, i.e., the tenth character is an alphabetic check digit
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