I was surprised to learn recently that the PAN Card (Tax ID for India Tax purposes) can be obtained from sitting here in the USA itself.
I was under the impression that the application had to be made in India itself. But there is information on the web and through a recent thread in the Indians list at Yahoo! it seems its possible to get a PAN Card while you are here in the US also.
So for those people who dont have a PAN Card, it makes sense to get one. Now a days, you need to give PAN Card Number to get any service in India.
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/
And also search for PAN Card in USA on the internet.
If someone has got PAN Card while in USA, please update this post with the procedure.
http://www.pancardnri.com/
could be helpful.
I was told my brother about this a few weeks back. Don’t have additional details though 🙁
Here is the website for the new PAN application online:
https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/pan/index.html
And here is the PAN specific page on the site referred by Prashant:
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/PAN/Overview.asp
Based on the PAN application online site posted earlier, one can fill up the form online but then need to mail the form with photograph and other documents like copy of passport, etc. It is not a completely online process 🙁
This came in the Oracle Desi Mailing list – from someone who applied for PAN Card from US.
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I went thro’ the online website of NSDL and it is very straight forward process.
I applied for PAN card under ‘Individual Category’ as a Foreign Citizen residing outside India at the time of application.
Website to apply :: https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/pan/index.html
What you need : Demand Draft (DD) payble at Mumbai for Rs. 744/ drawn in favor of ‘NSDL – PAN ‘(Got this from India thro’ mail from Bank of India), relevant documents depending on your citizenship status and a passport size photo.
(I need to attach a copy of my US passport, copy of my OCI card and copy of my CA Driving license. (none were notarized) along with the application for address proof and identify proof)
01/07/2010 : Applied online, take printout of the form and sent my application thro’ Global Express Mail to NSDL, Pune along with DD and the documents.
01/19/2010 : Received email notification from NSDL that application has been received and documents to be in order.
01/21/2010 : Received email from NSDL that PAN has been allocated along with my PAN number
02/02/2010 : Received my PAN card in mail thro’ EMS Speed post
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