Know the logic behind your PAN card sequencing | Fusion - WeRIndia

Know the logic behind your PAN card sequencing

Know the logic behind your PAN card sequencing

A Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a 10-digit alphanumeric number. The Income Tax Department of India issues it. Generally, people feel it difficult to remember their PAN card numbers.

And some people confuse about identifying the zero and the English alphabet ‘O’.  But, if you know the logic behind the sequencing of your PAN card number, you will remember it easily. Also, you will never confuse about identifying the zero and the alphabet ‘O’.

PAN is not generated randomly like a mobile number, but it contains some crucial information about the PAN cardholder.

As mentioned above PAN card contains 10 digits. The first five characters are English alphabets on your PAN card. The next four characters are numbers, and the last one is an English letter.


The alphabetic series runs from AAA to ZZZ, and the first three letters in a PAN card represent the alphabetic series. The fourth letter denotes the category of a person in the sight of the income tax department.

For instance, P is assigned to individual taxpayers. The remaining categories of persons are denoted as follows:

  • A – Association of Persons (AOP)
  • B – Body of Individuals (BOI)
  • C – Company
  • F – Firm/ Limited Liability Partnership
  • G – Government Agency
  • H – Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)
  • J – Artificial Juridical Person
  • L – Local Authority
  • T – Trust

The fifth character in the PAN represents the first letter of the surname or last name of a PAN cardholder.

If the PAN card is related to a non-individual, then the fifth character represents the first character of the name of the PAN cardholder.

The next four characters are numbers on a PAN card. They are sequential numbers running from 0001 to 9999. The last character is an alphabet. It is a check digit.

Now that you understand the logic behind the sequencing in your PAN card number, so you can remember it easily.

Image Credit: PageImp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons


Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_sample_of_Permanent_Account_Number_(PAN)_Card.jpg

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