Obtaining the mandatory permanent account number would soon be as easy as confirming railway reservation on the Internet.
The government has approved the proposal of chartered accountants acting as intermediaries for allotting PAN.
According to the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Sunil Goyal, an assessee will simply have to furnish the required data along with a photograph and address proof to any of the several approved chartered accountants for having the PAN card processed.
The chartered accountant will enter the IT network of companies like Unit Trust of India Investors Services Ltd or National Securities Depositories Ltd and feed the data.
Within minutes an e-mail will be generated to inform the assessee about the number allotted. The PAN card will later be despatched by these companies, Goyal informed.
Documents like the address proof and the photograph will be sent to the respective office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax of the region by the chartered accountant.
The ICAI had signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard with the Central Board of Direct Taxes in January itself. However, the matter lay in limbo for the next few months after which the CBDT expedited the process of granting the approval. The file was cleared a fortnight ago, Goyal said.
The government has also cleared the proposal for allowing e-filing of Income Tax returns through chartered accountants, he said. With the chartered accountants being appointed as intermediaries for allotting PAN, assessees may no longer have to wait for days for getting the number, he hoped.
Goyal said that the notification detailing aspects like fees to be charged for the task etc was awaited from the government. Talking to newsmen here, Goyal said that the Institute was also planning to put up a proposal for setting up of fast track courts for disposing cases relating to disciplinary action against chartered accountants.
The Central Council of the Institute had cleared the proposal and it was now being placed before the government. Setting up of the fast track court will require an amendment in the ICAI Act, Goyal said.
He said, the present procedure for deciding such cases was cumbersome. The matter was first put up before the Central Council, which referred it to the disciplinary committee and if the party concerned moved the high court in between, more legal wrangles followed.
The fast track court will deal with cases involving public interest as well as cases related to disputes between chartered accountants.
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