How To Check PAN Card Active Or Inactive?

The PAN card active status indicates if your Permanent Account Number (PAN) is operative or inoperative. To verify whether your PAN is valid for financial transactions, you must check PAN card status active or not from the Income Tax e-filing portal. 

Key Highlights:

• PAN card active status online: From the Income Tax e-filing portal using your PAN number and registered mobile number. 
• PAN card inoperative status: If your PAN card is inactive, link your PAN with Aadhaar for it to be operative.
• PAN card active status check fees: You can check the PAN card active status for free.

Prerequisites to Check PAN Card Status Active or Not

Individuals will require the following to check if their PAN card is active or not:

• PAN number
• Valid mobile number linked to the PAN for OTP verification

How to Check PAN Card Status Active or Not?

Below are the steps to check your PAN card active status:

Step 1: Go to the ‘Verify PAN Status’ page on the Income Tax e-filing website.

Step 2: Enter your PAN number, name, date of birth and mobile number and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Step 3: Next, enter the OTP sent to your mobile number and click the ‘Validate’ button.

Step 4: Your PAN card active status will be displayed.

Reasons for PAN Card Deactivation

Your PAN card may be marked as inoperative or deactivated by the Income Tax Department for the following reasons:

• Non-Linking of PAN with Aadhaar: It is mandatory to link PAN with Aadhaar as per the CBDT notification. Failure to do so will result in the PAN being inactive or inoperative.
• Possession of Multiple PAN Cards: Holding more than one PAN card is prohibited under the Income Tax Act. If there are multiple PANs against a single individual, the duplicate or improperly issued PAN(s) will be deactivated.
• Issuance Based on False or Duplicate Identity: PAN cards issued using forged documents, invalid personal details, or created for non-existent persons (fake identities) will be classified as invalid and subsequently deactivated.
• Mismatch of Personal Information: If there are discrepancies between PAN and Aadhaar details, the PAN may be flagged during Aadhaar validation and marked inoperative.

What Happens if PAN Card is Inoperative?

If your PAN card is inoperative, you cannot execute the following financial transactions:

• Opening an account (except a time deposit and a basic savings bank deposit account) with a banking company or a cooperative bank
• Applying for the issuance of a credit card
• Opening a demat account with a participant, depository or custodian of securities
• Payment in cash exceeding ₹50,000 for the following purposes:
  • to a mutual fund for the purchase of its units
  • to a company or an institution for acquiring bonds or debentures issued by them
  • to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acquiring bonds  
• Payment in cash exceeding ₹1,00,000 to a hotel, restaurant, convention centre, banquet hall, or any person engaged in event management 
• Deposits or withdraw cash aggregating to ₹10,00,000 in a financial year with a banking company, co-operative bank or ost office
• Opening a time deposit exceeding ₹50,000 or aggregating to more than ₹5,00,000 during a financial year with a bank company, post office, a co-operative bank, NBFC or a Nidhi registered under the Companies Act, 2013
• Open an account with an insurer when the insurance premium exceeds ₹50,000 in a financial year
• The sale or purchase of securities (other than shares) exceeding ₹1,00,000 per transaction
• The sale or purchase of shares of a company not listed in any recognised stock exchange exceeding ₹1,00,000 per transaction
• Purchase or sale of a motor vehicle or or motorcycles, except tractors, for an amount exceeding ₹5,00,000
• Purchase, sale or gift immovable property exceeding ₹20,00,000
• Purchase or sale of goods or services for an amount exceeding ₹2,00,000 per transaction

An inoperative PAN will also affect TDS and other taxation aspects, which are as follows:

• You cannot file Income Tax Return (ITR) or claim tax refunds
• Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) will be charged at a higher rate of 20% instead of the standard 10%
• Tax Collected at Source (TCS) will be charged up to 5%
• TCS/TDS credit will not appear in Form 26AS, and TCS/TDS certificates will not be available
• You cannot submit 15G/15H declarations for nil TDS

What to do When PAN Card is Deactivated?

If your PAN card is deactivated by the Income Tax Department due to some reason other than non-linking your PAN with your Aadhaar card, you need to draft a letter requesting to activate your PAN card and send it to your jurisdictional Assessing Officer (AO) in the Income Tax Department. Remember to send the following documents along with the letter:

• Copy of the PAN used to file your Income Tax Returns 
• Indemnity Bond in favour of the Income Tax Department 
• Copy of Income Tax Returns filed in the previous three years from the deactivated PAN number

Once the AO receives your request letter and the AO is satisfied with the genuineness of your letter, the department will activate your PAN card in 15-30 days.

How to Link PAN-Aadhaar to Activate PAN Card? 

If your PAN is inoperative due to non-linking of PAN and Aadhaar, you can make it operative again by applying to link PAN-Aadhaar after paying the penalty of ₹1,000. However, the PAN will be operative after 30 days of applying for PAN-Aadhaar linking. Below are the steps to link PAN with Aadhaar:

Step 1: Go to the ‘e-Pay Tax’ page on the Income Tax e-filing website.

Step 2: Select the applicable Tax Act as ‘Income Tax Act, 2025’ and click ‘Continue’.

Step 3: Enter the ‘PAN’ number, confirm the PAN number, enter mobile number and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Step 4: Enter the OTP and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Step 5: Next, click the ‘Proceed’ button under the ‘Income Tax’ tab.

Step 6: Select the tax year as ‘2026-27’, type of payment (minor head) as ‘Other Receipts (500)’, sub-type of payment as ‘Fee for delay in linking PAN with Aadhaar’ and click the ‘Continue’ button to pay the penalty.

Step 7: After paying the penalty, go to the ‘Link Aadhaar’ page on the Income Tax e-filing website.

Step 8: Enter the PAN and Aadhaar number and click ‘Validate’. 

Step 9: Enter the name, mobile number and click the ‘Link Aadhaar’ button.

Step 10: Enter the OTP and click the ‘Validate’ button. 

The request for PAN-Aadhaar linking will be sent to the UIDAI.

How to Check PAN-Aadhaar Linking Status?

You can check if your PAN is linked with Aadhaar by following the below steps:

Step 1: Go to the ‘Link Aadhaar Status’ page on the Income Tax e-filing website.

Step 2: Enter your PAN and Aadhaar card number and click the ‘View Link Aadhaar Status’ option.

Step 3: The PAN-Aadhaar link status will be displayed on the screen.

You can check the PAN card active status on the Income Tax e-filing website to check if your PAN card status is active or not. If your PAN is inactive or inoperative due to non-linking PAN and Aadhaar card, you must send the request to link your PAN-Aadhaar after paying the penalty amount. It will be 30 days for the PAN card to be operative again. However, if your PAN card is inoperative due to any other reason, contact your jurisdictional AO in the Income Tax Department and request them to activate your PAN card.

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