Govt to weed out duplicate PAN cards
Concerned over circulation of lakhs of duplicate PAN cards, the government on Tuesday announced that all such cards would be removed by the end of 2006 and an exercise was on to issue a "new fool-proof card".
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Concerned over circulation of lakhs of duplicate PAN cards, the government on Tuesday announced that all such cards would be removed by the end of 2006 and an exercise was on to issue a "new fool-proof card".
Indiscriminate issue of PAN cards, initially, have led to circulation of 23 lakh duplicate cards of which not all of them are bogus, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, adding that this was a legacy issue.
A campaign would be launched, asking people to voluntarily surrender duplicate cards, he told reporters after meeting Chief Commissioners and Director Generals of Income Tax here.
"Process is well underway. By 31st December all duplicate cards will be removed," he said.
At the moment new assesses are voluntarily taking PAN cards, he said, adding that it was compulsory for any new assessee to take a PAN card.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chidambaram said that authorities concerned would soon announce the PAN reforms and added that "de-duplication" of the cards would be completed by the end of 2006 and new "fool proof cards" would be introduced incorporating biometrics.Thereafter it would not be possible to obtain a multiple card. The idea is to remove all duplicate PAN cards and issue a new full-proof card, he said.
On computerisation of Tax department he said, "There are too many difficulties and the tax department had appointed an outside expert yesterday to advise the department to monitor the progress.
He will now give an external feedback on how well the computerisation process is going on.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
