Employers will have to quote the Permanent Account Number of their employees while submitting TDS (tax deducted at source) returns to the government as tax refund has become difficult without PAN after annexure-less forms were introduced.

Income Tax department would not accept these returns if employers fail to quote PAN in at least 95 per cent cases of salaried employees and 85 per cent cases of non-salaried staff.

Employers who do not comply with the rules would be treated as non-filers and could face penal consequences, an official release said on Tuesday.

Quoting PAN is important because the IT department has prescribed new return forms without attachments from assessment year 2007-08.

Tax refunds can only be given to the employees on the basis of information made available by employers through TDS returns, the statement said.