New PAN norms 2026: Where quoting is relaxed and where it’s now mandatory

The new Income Tax Act, 2025 and Income Tax Rules, 2026 have introduced significant changes relating to PAN quoting, PAN usage and Form 60 (now re-engineered as Form 97). With these new regulations, the requirement to quote PAN for specific transactions has either been eliminated or made less strict.

For example, previously you had to quote PAN on cash deposits exceeding Rs 50,000 in a single day, but that’s no longer necessary.

Check out the details below to find out everything that has changed with PAN quoting.

New transactions now will get reported to Income Tax Department

Shaily Gupta, partner, Khaitan & Co, said to ET Wealth Online which are the new transactions added in Rule 237 of Income Tax Rules, 2026:

• Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited is required to report stamp paper purchases - Rs 2 lakh (PAN) / Rs 1 lakh (No PAN).
• Receipt from any person against insurance premium - Rs 5 lakh (PAN) / Rs 2.5 lakh (No PAN)
• Expanded property coverage - includes gift, Joint Development Agreement (JDA) - Rs 45 lakh

Transactions where PAN quoting threshold has been raised

Gupta says there are many transactions where the PAN quoting threshold for specified transactions have been increased. This means now for a higher value of the particular transaction, you need to give your PAN number.

Threshold increase:

Particulars	Rule 114E (Income Tax Rules, 1962)	Rule 237 (Income Tax Rules, 2026)
Purchase/ sale of immovable property	Rs 30 lakh	Rs45 lakh
Foreign Exchange Transactions	Rs 10 lakh	Rs 10 lakh (PAN) / Rs 5 lakh (No PAN)
Cash Deposit in Savings Account	Rs 10 lakh	Rs 10 lakh (PAN) / Rs 5 lakh (No PAN)
Payment made in cash for purchase of Bank Draft / Pay Order	Rs 10 lakh	Rs 10 lakh (PAN) / Rs 5 lakh (No PAN)
Payment made for purchase of pre-paid instruments issued by RBI	Rs 10 lakh – if purchased in cash	Rs 10 lakh – if purchased in cash or otherwise

Source: Khaitan & Co

PAN quoting requirements have been relaxed and expanded for these transactions

Section 262 of the 2025 Act, corresponding to Section 139A of the 1961 Act mandates the quoting of PAN in respect of specified documents and transactions. The detailed list of such transactions is prescribed under Rule 159 of the 2026 Rules (corresponding to Rule 114B of the 1962 Rules).

Gupta says under the new law, the scope of transactions requiring mandatory quoting of PAN has been relaxed in certain cases and expanded in others. The key changes are summarised below:

Category	Relaxation of Scope	Expansion of Scope
Cash Deposit & Withdrawal	Requirement to quote PAN on cash deposits exceeding Rs 50,000 in a day, removed. Annual threshold of cash deposit increased from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Cash payment exceeding Rs 50,000 a day for bank drafts/ pay orders/ banker’s cheques, no longer require mandatory quoting of PAN*	Requirement to quote PAN on annual cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 10 lakh has now been introduced.
Application for issue of credit or debit card	Requirement to quote PAN while making an application for issue of debit card, has been removed.*
Immovable property	The threshold for requirement to quote PAN increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh	PAN-holders that are not companies or firms, entering into transactions of sale/ purchase or gift of immovable property or joint development agreements (JDA) for properties whose stamp duty value exceed Rs 45 lakhs, are required to mandatorily apply for PAN (if not already possessed). Scope for quoting PAN has been expanded to specifically include gift deeds and joint development agreements (JDA).
Hotel/ restaurant cash payments	Threshold for quoting PAN has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, per transaction	Scope expanded to include payments made to banquet halls, convention centres and event managers
Motor Vehicles	Mandatory only on sale/ purchase of motor vehicles (including 2-wheeler vehicles) exceeding Rs 5 lakhs Purchase of ‘tractors’ excluded	Scope expanded to include two-wheeler vehicles also falling within the scope of section 2(28) of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
Foreign travel/ currency*	Cash payments for foreign travel or foreign currency no longer listed as a separate category for quoting of PAN
Pre-paid instruments issued by RBI*	Cash payments for pre-paid instruments no longer listed as separate category

Source: Khaitan & Co

*While these have been removed as specific categories, in case the threshold limit of Rs 2 lakh per transaction is met, they may have to be evaluated separately for being covered under the general line item of ‘purchase of goods and services of any nature’

In addition to the major changes discussed above, Rule 159 of the Rules, 2026 introduces Form No. 97, which replaces the earlier Form No. 60, to be furnished in the absence of PAN.

The only major change in Form No. 97 has been with respect to transactions of immovable properties exceeding Rs 45 lakh, where previously these could have been undertaken by filing a declaration under Form 60. However, such transactions now require persons other than a company or a firm to mandatorily apply for a PAN.