« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Income Tax Slabs FY 2023-24 & AY 2024-25 (New & Old Regime Tax Rates)  How can Form 15G & Form 15H save TDS on interest income?  How are e-filing and e-payment of taxes different? Know details here  Income Tax return (ITR) filing 2024: What is Form 16, when is issue date and why is it crucial? Explained  Step-by-Step Guide To File Income Tax Return FY 2023-24  Income-tax filing: Should you file your returns in April or wait until July 31?  ITR Filing: 6 Ways to Get Exemption on Income Tax  Income Tax Return Filing: 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Filing ITR For AY 2024-25  Old vs New Tax Regime: Who should move to the New Tax Regime from the old one?  Income Tax Calculator FY 2023-24: How To Know Your Tax Liability Online On IT Dept's Portal?  BackBack Income Tax Act amendment on cards on tax treatment of MSME dues «  Govt might give tax benefits on bio fuels... Last date for filing I-T, FBT returns for corporates... » NRI investors will soon need PAN October, 25th 2006 The income tax department will insist on representatives of NRIs and foreign investors using PAN numbers to file returns on their behalf. Consultancy organisations providing tax related services to overseas clients have raised the issue with the income tax department. The issue has cropped up this year, after the income tax department made e-filing mandatory for corporates from this year. In the electronic forms the resident representative has to file the PAN number of the company or body he is representing, to be able to file in the details of the tax paid. The relevant entry asks for the status of the filer, that is whether he is a representative and then ask for the PAN details of the assessee. Explaining the concept, Amitabh Singh, executive director, Ernst & Young said so far a representative assessee was filing a return in his name, using his PAN but relating to income of the non-resident. The law fully allows this, he stated and said This would affect lot of companies who have dealings with non-residents and who file returns as representative assessee. But tax officials say that they have brought in no new columns in the electronic forms and said they had just transposed whatever was there in the paper format. They added that the relevant column was so far being often ignored by the resident representatives, by striking off the same, even though the paper form did ask for the NRIs PAN. But in the e-format, the striking off option is not available. The column has to be filled in before the returns can be given in. But to make life easy the officials said the representatives could use a dummy number specified in the FAQ at the website of the department in place of the PAN. According to them the issue has arisen because many of the NRIs and investors are not keen to use the PAN as this allows for easy identification. They also said the department cannot relax the requirement, since e-filing has been made mandatory as per law for al corporate bodies. Singh said, under the provisions of Income Tax law a resident can file the income-tax return of a non-resident in his own name, as a representative assessee for income earned by a non resident having some business nexus with that resident. This return is filed in the resident's own name in representative capacity.