A permanent account number (PAN) is a ten-character alphanumeric identifier, issued in the form of a laminated "PAN card", by the Indian Income Tax Department, to any person who applies for it or to whom the department allots the number without an application. It can also be obtained in the form of a PDF file. A PAN is a unique identifier issued to all judicial entities identifiable under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961. The income tax PAN and its linked card are issued under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act. It is issued by the Indian Income Tax Department under the supervision of the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and it also serves as an important proof of identification. It is also issued to foreign nationals (such as investors) subject to a valid visa, and hence a PAN card is not acceptable as proof of Indian citizenship. A PAN is necessary for filing income tax returns. Structure of PAN The PAN (or PAN number) is a ten-character long alpha-numeric unique identifier. The PAN structure is as follows: Fourth character [P — Individual or Person ] Example: AAAPZ1234C The first five characters are letters (in uppercase by default), followed by four numerals, and the last (tenth) character is a letter. The first three characters of the code are three letters forming a sequence of alphabetical letters from AAA to ZZZ The fourth character identifies the type of holder of the card. Each holder type is uniquely defined by a letter from the list below: A — AOP (Association of persons) B — BOI (Body of individuals) C — Company F — Firm G — Government H — HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) L — Local authority J — Artificial juridical person P — Person (Individual) T — Trust (AOP) The fifth character of the PAN is the first character of either: of the first name, surname or last name of the person, in the case of a "personal" PAN card, where the fourth character is "P" or of the name of the entity, trust, society, or organisation in the case of a company/HUF/firm/AOP/trust/BOI/local authority/artificial judicial person/government, where the fourth character is "C", "H", "F", "A", "T", "B", "L", "J", "G". The last (tenth) character is an alphabetic digit used as a check-sum to verify the validity of that current code. Provisions In recent times, the DOI (date of issue)