New PAN Documents by Applicant Type: Checklist

A customer puts an Aadhaar card on your counter and says, “Make my PAN.” It sounds simple. But then you ask for a date-of-birth proof, and he looks surprised. Or someone arrives with a company’s papers and the director’s own PAN, thinking that covers everything.

Most delays at the PAN counter come from this one thing: nobody sorted out what kind of applicant it was before collecting papers. This checklist helps you do that, step by step. Use it for preparation only. The provider’s current form and document instructions decide what counts for the actual application, and the papers you gave for your own agent registration say nothing about what a customer’s PAN needs.

First check whether the customer already has a PAN. A correction or a lost card is a different job. And for the form numbers, see which PAN form applies.

How do you pick the applicant category?

Protean’s downloads page, checked on 18 October 2026, puts applicants into four groups: Indian-citizen individuals, Indian entities, foreign-citizen individuals and foreign entities. Each group has its own current form. There are also separate correction forms for individuals and for non-individuals.

UTIITSL’s form notice, checked on 18 October 2026, says revised PAN application and change-request forms apply from April 2026. So if you have old forms saved on your computer, replace them.

Ask two things: is the applicant a citizen, and is it a person or a legal entity? Don’t treat someone as a foreign citizen just because they live abroad. And don’t submit the owner’s personal ID as if it were the company’s incorporation proof.

What does an Indian individual need?

Protean’s Indian-applicant document list, retrieved on 18 October 2026, shows identity, address and birth proof as three separate columns. A document that works for one purpose doesn’t automatically work for the others.

So the customer with only an Aadhaar card needs one more paper, a listed birth proof. Don’t call Aadhaar alone a complete pack.

Read each row’s full conditions too: the applicant’s name, the complete birth date and the exact type of document accepted. For the listed utility bills and bank statements, the provider says they must not be more than three months old. Check that against the date printed on the actual bill or statement. Never change a date, and never crop away the issue date to make a paper look newer.

What extra checks apply to a minor?

Protean’s list allows specified proofs from a parent or guardian for a minor’s identity and address. The identity note also asks for the minor’s own Aadhaar in addition to the listed parent or guardian document.

The Form 93 instructions make the representative assessee section mandatory for a minor. They ask for the representative’s identity and address evidence too.

An easy way to stay straight is to keep three groups apart: the child’s details, the child’s birth proof, and the representative’s details. Mixing them under “family papers” is how mistakes happen.

What does an Indian entity need?

This is a summary of Protean’s entity list, checked on 18 October 2026.

What about a partnership firm? On 18 October 2026, Protean’s public table had an incomplete row for firms. The UTIITSL document checklist has a firm row that lists the Registrar of Firms registration certificate or the partnership deed. Keep the official source you used with the customer’s file, and don’t fill a gap by borrowing from a neighbouring category. A trust’s papers, for example, are not a firm’s papers.

Dates trip people up here. Form 94’s instructions ask for different dates depending on the category: incorporation, agreement, partnership deed, trust deed or formation. Find out which event the form wants before you copy a date. The latest date on a paper isn’t always the one the form needs. Ask the applicant to point to the record that shows it, and if you’re still unsure, ask the receiving provider.

For an HUF, read the whole karta affidavit wording and the karta’s own proofs, and keep the HUF’s papers and the individual’s papers easy to tell apart. For a company or LLP, match the entity’s name and registration number with the record. And don’t use a director’s personal PAN in place of the entity’s evidence just because that person controls the email account.

How do foreign cases differ?

Protean’s downloads page has separate routes for foreign citizens and foreign entities. Don’t use the Indian table for an overseas case. First clarify citizenship, residence and where any entity was registered.

• Person abroad: Form 93 is for an individual who is a citizen of India, and it includes non-resident and resident-but-not-ordinarily-resident options. Form 95 is for an individual who is not an Indian citizen. Living overseas doesn’t by itself mean Form 95. Form 93 asks for a passport number from a non-resident or RNOR applicant, while Form 95 asks for the country of citizenship and a Taxpayer Identification Number.
• Foreign individual documents: Protean’s Form 95 page lists a passport, a Person of Indian Origin card and an Overseas Citizenship of India card among its identity options, with separate lists for birth and address proof. For other national or taxpayer documents it names attestation alternatives, such as an apostille for applicable Hague Convention countries or consular attestation. Check the exact row before you ask the customer to pay for certification, and don’t ask for an apostille on every foreign document. The address list includes a bank-account statement in the country of residence and a non-resident external bank-account statement in India.
• Foreign entity: Form 96 applies to an entity incorporated or formed outside India. The Taxpayer Identification Number field is mandatory. It also needs identity and address proofs of the representative, with an Indian address except for the foreign-portfolio-investor exception. An Indian trust deed doesn’t prove the registration of a company formed abroad.

Keep a short category note for an uncertain case: the applicant type, citizenship or the entity’s country of formation, residence category where it matters, and the address for communication. Don’t store more identity details than you need. The note exists to pick the right instructions. It isn’t a way to decide someone’s citizenship from a passport photo or a phone country code.

How do you check the file before the customer leaves?

Start with the names. Compare the applicant’s name on the form with the name on every paper. Check that each document belongs to the applicant, that every page is readable, and that it supports the entry it’s being used for. Don’t tick “address proof” just because a paper has some address on it. Read whether the row asks for a copy or an original.

A simple worksheet helps in uncertain cases. Make four columns: the purpose that needs proof, the paper you plan to use, the official row that allows it, and any open question. It’s your own aid, not another government form.

Here’s a made-up example. A customer has a clear identity document but nothing that supports the address he wants to enter. Mark the address line as open. Don’t call the pack complete because one paper looks good. Ask which accepted proof supports that address, and get it before you submit.

For an entity, swap the birth-proof question for the incorporation or formation record. Keep the representative’s papers separate. If a paper looks unfamiliar, send the provider a clear question that names the category and the document. Don’t post the whole file to a group chat hoping someone recognises it.

Before the customer leaves, run through the file in the order of his request:

1. Is this a new PAN, and not a correction or replacement of an existing one?
2. Which applicant category is it, and which form?
3. Does every proof purpose have a matching paper?
4. For a minor or an entity, are the representative’s details there?
5. Is the chosen address supported, and is the signing or authentication method clear?

Have the customer read the prepared entries before final submission. Use the receiving channel’s format instructions, not upload sizes you remember from another portal. And keep sensitive files out of ordinary testing folders.

After submission, keep the application receipt and reference with the customer’s record. Don’t promise acceptance because every box on your worksheet has a tick. The receiving provider applies its rules to the actual application. If a deficiency notice arrives, compare it with what you submitted and ask the provider what action applies, instead of switching categories or starting a second application.

For your own agent access, use the UTI PSA login guide. Keep your agent registration expenses separate from the customer’s application fee, and use support for account problems without sharing passwords or OTPs.

Questions counters ask

Can I keep using the PAN forms I saved last year?

Not safely. UTIITSL’s notice, checked on 18 October 2026, says revised application and change-request forms apply from April 2026. Download fresh copies and check the form number against the applicant’s category.

The customer’s papers show slightly different spellings of his name. What now?

Don’t guess and don’t “fix” a paper. Note the difference on your worksheet, show it to the customer, and ask the receiving provider how that case is handled before you submit.

A customer lives abroad but holds an Indian passport. Which route is that?

Citizenship decides the form, not the address. Form 93 covers an individual who is a citizen of India, including non-resident applicants. Read its instructions for the passport number it asks from non-resident and RNOR applicants, and check which PAN form applies before you collect anything.

Is the director’s own PAN enough for his company?

No. The company needs its own evidence from the entity list above. The director’s papers show who he is, not that the company exists.

Sources

• Protean: documents for Indian individuals and entities, retrieved 18 October 2026.
• Protean Form 93 and individual applicant instructions, retrieved 18 October 2026.
• Protean PAN application and correction form downloads, retrieved 18 October 2026.
• UTIITSL PAN services and revised-form notice, retrieved 18 October 2026.

Re-check forms and provider instructions before you submit an application.