In a positive move, the government has amended its Income Tax rules to allow transgenders to be recognised as the third gender in the Permanent Account Number (PAN). Changing its application form by including a new tick box for transgenders, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday issued a notice in this regard. Until now only two gender categories – male and female were available in the PAN application form. Talking about the CBDT move, a senior official said after CBDT received representations in this matter after which the notification amending the rules brought out.

The official added said that transgenders were facing problems in obtaining PAN card. Earlier, the third gender category was introduced in Aadhaar. The official said, “after third gender introduction in Aadhaar, transgenders were not able to link their Aadhaar with PAN. Now, the new changes will be reflected in Form 49A (PAN application form for Indian citizens) and 49A (PAN application for individuals not a citizen of India). Income Tax Department issue Permanent Account Number (PAN), a 10-digit alphanumeric number. Recently, the government made compulsory for citizens to submit their Aadhaar for filing income tax returns as well as obtaining a new PAN.

According to Section 139 AA (2) of the IT Act every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must submit their Aadhaar to tax authorities. According to CBDT statistics, over 16.55 crore PAN have been issued, out of which around 33% linked with Aadhaar. Recently, the CBDT extended the deadline to link Aadhaar and PAN. 

The Indian government has modified and implemented new rules for the Income-tax, which will come into action from April 1. Income tax department has introduced some new rules and several amendments in the present laws that will come into effect from today. The government has ordered many changes in India’s direct tax law system, which will benefit the taxpayer and country respectively. #casansaar (Source - PTI, NewsX)