The PAN Validator verifies whether a 10-character Permanent Account Number follows the format prescribed by the Income Tax Department and decodes the entity type embedded in the 4th character. Whether you are onboarding a vendor, filing a TDS return or reconciling KYC records, a quick structural check on the PAN eliminates a large class of downstream errors.
The tool works entirely inside your browser — no data leaves your device — and gives an instant read on format validity and entity classification for individuals, companies, trusts, firms and every other class of assessee.
What is a PAN and why does it matter?
The Permanent Account Number is a 10-character alphanumeric identifier issued by the Income Tax Department under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It is the unique key that ties every taxable transaction of a person or entity to a single account for tax purposes.
Beyond direct tax, PAN is mandatory for GST registration, opening a bank account, buying immovable property above certain thresholds, applying for a demat account, receiving payments above the specified limits and hundreds of other financial transactions.
PAN structure decoded
- Characters 1–3 — Sequence of alphabets, generated by the system
- Character 4 — Entity type (P, C, H, F, A, T, B, L, J or G)
- Character 5 — First letter of the surname (for individuals) or of the entity name (for others)
- Characters 6–9 — Sequential 4-digit number
- Character 10 — Alphabetic check character
Entity codes at position 4
Full mapping
- P — Individual / Person (including sole proprietors)
- C — Company incorporated under the Companies Act
- H — Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)
- F — Partnership Firm or Limited Liability Partnership
- A — Association of Persons (AOP)
- T — Trust (public or private)
- B — Body of Individuals (BOI)
- L — Local Authority (municipality, panchayat, etc.)
- J — Artificial Juridical Person
- G — Government entity
Common use cases
- Vendor onboarding and KYC — validate every PAN before creating a vendor master
- TDS filings — a wrongly formatted PAN raises a defect notice from the CPC-TDS
- GST registration — the PAN must be valid because the GSTIN is derived from it
- Bank and NBFC due diligence — internal risk teams routinely re-check PAN structure
- Employment onboarding — HR teams use it to validate employee-provided PANs
How to use this PAN Validator
- Step 1Enter or paste the 10-character PAN in the input box. It automatically converts to uppercase.
- Step 2The validator checks that the pattern matches 5 letters + 4 digits + 1 letter.
- Step 3On success, it decodes the entity type from the 4th character and identifies the surname / name initial from the 5th.
- Step 4On failure, it names the exact structural rule that was violated.
What structural validation cannot confirm
A PAN that clears format checks may still be inactive, cancelled or issued to a different name. Structural validation is a necessary but not sufficient step in KYC.
- For name-matching, use the Income Tax e-filing portal PAN verification API
- For active status, check via the department’s Know Your PAN facility
- For linkage with Aadhaar, confirm the linkage status on the e-filing portal