Pan To Be Utilised For Probing Corporates

In a major move to promote better coordination and foolproof channels for cross-examination and verfication among all its arms nationwide, primarily for the corporate sector, the Union revenue ministry has called for the use of the PAN (Permanent Allotment Number) by the central excise department and the office of the Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) as a vital input in their investigative activities.

According to I-T sources, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked the department to expedite the PAN allotment to corporate assessees, as a result of this move. However, due to the enormity of the volumes of application pending with the I-T department, the cut off date for allotment of PAN has been extended to March 31, from January 31, 2000.

 

The incorporation of the PAN in the excise code will entail prefixing the ten digit PAN with the excise code, thus resulting in a new excise code of a 16 digit number. Speaking to Business Standard, a senior excise department official said: "This move will ensure that the ministry will be able to keep track of corporates indulging in doublespeak. This will minimize chances of any assessee showing one set of figures to one department and a different set to another."

According to Calcutta's joint director general foreign trade Anita Agnihotri, the PAN will henceforth be an essential input in the format for issuing of import-export code number by the department.

Income tax department sources said the importance attached to the PAN is a precursor to the the long term plan of integrating all revenue ministry departments in an online mode. The department is currently engaged in networking of all field officers with the main server, whereby each officer will have access to data only within his own jurisdiction. The networking is being done in a pyramidal fashion, so that the CBDT will have access to all areas. Downwards, the access will be on the basis of user privileges. The entire networking exercise is expected to be completed by June 2000.

The I-T department in Bengal is currently handling 1.8 million PAN application. In order to grapple with the task of expediting allotment of PAN in Calcutta, the department has singled out all corporate applications, and until now more than 4,000 non-individual assessees have been allotted the PAN after receiving the instruction to expedite allotment last month.