PAN card for a firm or company

Updated 3 August 2026

🏢 What to attach, by entity type

This is the table printed on Form 49A itself, under Rule 114 of the Income-tax Rules. One document covers proof of identity, address and date together.

• Company — copy of the certificate of registration issued by the Registrar of Companies
• Partnership firm — copy of the certificate of registration issued by the Registrar of Firms, or a copy of the partnership deed
• Limited Liability Partnership — copy of the certificate of registration issued by the Registrar of LLPs
• Association of persons (trust) — copy of the trust deed, or a copy of the certificate of registration number issued by a Charity Commissioner
• Association of persons, body of individuals, local authority or artificial juridical person — copy of the agreement, or a certificate of registration number from a Charity Commissioner, Registrar of Co-operative Societies or any other competent authority, or any other document originating from a Central or State Government department establishing the identity and address of the entity
• Hindu Undivided Family — an affidavit by the karta stating the name, father's name and address of every coparcener as on the date of application, together with a copy of any accepted personal document in the karta's own name

Note that the form groups an HUF with individuals, not with the other entities — the karta's own document does the work, so the individual document lists apply.

🧍 A proprietorship does not get its own PAN

This is the single commonest wasted application. Form 49A says it plainly: in the case of a sole proprietorship concern, the proprietor should apply for PAN in his or her own name. There is no separate business PAN to obtain — the proprietor's individual PAN is the firm's PAN, and it is what you quote for GST, a current account and TDS.

If that is your situation, the personal PAN checklist is the page you want.

✍️ Who has to sign

The form is specific about this, and applications not signed in the given manner are liable to be rejected:

• Company — a director
• Partnership firm or LLP — a partner
• Trust — a trustee
• Hindu Undivided Family — the karta
• Association of persons, body of individuals, local authority or artificial juridical person — the authorised signatory

📋 What else the form asks of an entity

• Registration number — mandatory for a company, which gives the number issued by the Registrar of Companies. Other entities may give a registration number issued by any State or Central Government authority. It does not apply to individuals or HUFs.
• Date of incorporation, deed or formation — an entity still enters a date, just not a date of birth: date of incorporation for a company, date of the partnership deed for a firm, date of creation of the trust deed for a trust, date of registration for an LLP, date of formation for an association of persons.
• Office address is mandatory for a firm, LLP, company, local authority or trust, and these applicants must select Office as the address for communication. The residence address field is left blank.
• The name must be written in full, starting in the surname boxes and running on into the first and middle name boxes if it is long. Private Limited must be spelled out — Pvt Ltd, Private Ltd and P. Ltd are all rejected — and no title such as M/s is prefixed.
• An LLP's PAN is allotted in "Firm" status, even though LLP is what you select on the form.

Which form applies

Form 49A is for Indian citizens, Indian companies, entities incorporated in India and unincorporated entities formed in India. An entity formed outside India applies on Form 49AA instead. The accepted documents are prescribed by Rule 114 of the Income-tax Rules, which is the table reproduced above.

How it differs from a personal PAN

A personal PAN application asks for three separate proofs — identity, address and date of birth — plus two photographs and a signature. An entity application asks for none of those: the registration document is a single proof covering all three, and no photograph is affixed. What an entity has instead is the signing rule above, a registration number, and a mandatory office address.

💰 What it costs

On the current form, processing is ₹107 including GST if you want a physical PAN card, or ₹72 if you do not — in which case you write "Physical PAN Card not required" at the top of the form and must give an email address to receive the e-PAN. Dispatch of a physical card outside India costs ₹910 more. Fees change; confirm the current amount before you pay.

Holding more than one PAN carries a penalty of ₹10,000 under section 272B, so if the entity already has one, apply for a correction rather than a fresh PAN.

Where to apply

Applications go through incometax.gov.in or the authorised service providers, Protean (formerly NSDL) and UTIITSL. Entity categories and accepted documents change from time to time — confirm the current list on the portal before applying.

Frequently asked questions

General information, not legal advice — and ToolGalli is not affiliated with any government department. Requirements change; verify the current list on the official portal.

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