Decoding a PAN number
PAN number or the Permanent Account Number is a unique, 10-character alpha-numeric, issued primarily for universal identification of all financial transactions and to prevent tax evasion by keeping track of monetary transactions. It is issued by the Indian Income Tax Department under the supervision of the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT). In any given PAN number, the First five characters are letters, next four are numerals, and the last character is letter. The first three letters is a sequence of alphabets from AAA to ZZZ and this selection is random. The fourth character informs about the type of holder of the card. Each holder is uniquely defined as below: A — Association of Persons (AOP) B — Body of Individuals (BOI) C — Company F — Firm G — Government H — HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) L — Local Authority J — Artificial Juridical Person P — Individual T — AOP (Trust) K ...