Power delegated to the Central Government to Notify Class or Classes Persons for whom it will be obligatory to apply for Permanent Account Number (PAN) [Section 139A(1A)] :

With a view to progressively making PAN a common business identification number for other departments such as the Central Board of Excise and Customs and the Director General of Foreign Trade, the Act has delegated the power to the Central Government to notify class or classes of persons for whom it will be obligatory to apply for PAN, provided tax is payable by them under the Income tax Act or any tax or duty is payable by them under any other law in force including importers and exporters whether any tax is payable by them or not.

The Central Government by Notification No. 11468, dated 29.8.2000 has notified the following class or classes of persons who shall apply to the Assessing Officer for allotment of permanent account number:—

1. Exporters and Importers as defined in section 2(20) and section 2(26) of the Customs Act, 1962, who are required to obtain an importer-exporter code under section 7 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulations) Act, 1992.

2. Assessees as defined in rule 2(3) of Central Excise Rules, 1944.

3. Persons who issue invoices of Cenvat i.e. traders, etc. requiring registration under Central Excise Rules, 1944.

4. Persons who are assessees under service tax.

The above persons shall apply for allotment of PAN within 15 days of the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette. However, persons who may fall in the above category, after the date of the above notification, shall apply for allotment of PAN:—

1. in case of (i) above, before making an import or export;

2. in case of (ii) and (iii) above, before making an application for registration under central excise;

3. in case of (iv) above, before making an application for registration under service tax.

The Central Government, by Notification No. 355/2001, dated 11.12.2001 has further notified the following class or classes of persons:

1. Persons registered under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 or the general sales tax law of the appropriate State or Union Territory, as the case may be.

2. As on the date of this notification, a person falling within a class or classes of persons referred to in paragraph I, shall apply for the allotment of permanent account number within thirty days of the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette.

3. A person who may fall within such class or classes of persons after the date of this notification, as is referred to in paragraph (I), shall apply for the allotment of permanent account number (PAN) before making any application for registration under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 or the general sales tax law of the appropriate State or Union territory, as the case may be.