What is a PAN?
A PAN (Permanent Account Number) is the 10-character identifier the Income Tax Department issues to individuals, companies, firms, trusts and other taxpayers in India. The same format is used for every type of holder, with the 4th character showing which type it is.
PAN format explained
| Characters | Meaning | Example (ABCPD1234E) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Alphabetic series, from AAA to ZZZ | ABC |
| 4 | Type of holder | P (individual) |
| 5 | First letter of the surname for individuals, or of the name for other holders | D |
| 6-9 | Sequential number from 0001 to 9999 | 1234 |
| 10 | Alphabetic check character | E |
What the 4th character means
- P: individual
- C: company
- H: Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)
- F: firm or limited liability partnership
- A: association of persons (AOP)
- T: trust
- B: body of individuals (BOI)
- L: local authority
- J: artificial juridical person
- G: government
A quick use of this: if a business gives you a PAN with a P in 4th place, it was issued to an individual, so it belongs to the proprietor rather than to a company.
What this PAN validator can’t tell you
A PAN can be perfectly formed and still be fake, inactive or issued to someone else. The formula for the last character is not published, so no public tool can test it. To confirm a PAN exists and is active, use the Verify Your PAN service on the Income Tax e-filing portal for one number at a time, or the PAN Verification API to check many automatically during onboarding.
Frequently asked questions
Does a valid PAN format mean the PAN is real?
No. It only means the number follows the official pattern. Only the Income Tax Department’s records confirm that it was issued and to whom.
Why is my PAN shown as invalid?
Check for a mistyped character: the 6th to 9th characters must be digits, and the rest letters. A common slip is typing the digit 0 for the letter O, or 1 for the letter I.
Is the PAN I type stored anywhere?
No. The check runs entirely in your browser and nothing is sent to Veriqos or any other server.
