Income-tax payers will be allowed to file returns without quoting the Permanent Account Number for another year since the Central Board of Direct Taxes will not be able to issue so many cards by September 30.

The board has also decided to extend the last date for filing of returns for tax deduction at source to November 30 because it was not able to issue the PAN cards within 15 days of receiving the application forms, as announced earlier.

UTI Investor Services, which is issuing the PAN cards on behalf of the board, has outsourced some of the work to Bajaj Capital Ltd, which is now issuing and receiving the forms and sending them across to the former. Income-tax officials said about 30 per cent of the applicants had not been issued cards because of duplication.

According to the officials, such cases have to be referred to an officer of the rank of additional commissioner for resolution. The tax payer also has to be informed because he may have used the earlier number.

Confirming the delay, officials at Bajaj Capital and UTI Investor Services said it was taking them more than 20 days to issue the final card.

Data released by the CBDT till the middle of August show that of the 430,000 applications received, only about 80,000 have been issued the cards.

The delay has also been partly due to a strike called by employees of the tax department.

The department has also clarified that tax returns will be accepted if the assessee can produce an acknowledgment from the income-tax department showing that he has applied for the Permanent Account Number.

Chief Commissioner of Delhi Birjendar Singh said he felt that allowing assesses to file returns without PAN had become necessary because of the ground realities.

The board has acknowledged that since filing of returns has become mandatory, the absence of PAN can prove to be a major bottleneck.

The last date for filing of tax returns was extended to September 30 from June 30 for the same reason. Trade bodies have pointed out that if a person is unable to file returns, he may lose some statutory rights.