PAN mandatory for service tax registration: Govt

Permanent Accounts Number (PAN) is now mandatory for private firms for getting service tax registration besides email and mobile number.

"Applicants, who are not government departments shall not be granted registration in the absence of PAN," according to an order issued by the Finance Ministry.

The registration shall mandatorily require that the PAN number of the proprietor or the legal entity being registered should be quoted in the application except for government departments, it said.

"Existing registrants, except government departments not having PAN shall obtain PAN and apply online for conversion of temporary registration to PAN-based registration within three months of this order," said the order for service tax registration which came into force from this month.

The failure to comply with the order will lead to cancellation of temporary registration "after giving the assessee an opportunity to represent against the proposed cancellation and taking into consideration the reply received, if any", it said.

The applicant shall quote the email address and mobile number in the requisite column of the application form for communication with the department. "Existing registrants who have not submitted this information are required to file an amendment application by March 30, 2015," the order said.