Forgot Your PAN Number? How to Find Your Own PAN Safely

Quick answer: You can no longer get a PAN by typing a name and date of birth into the Income Tax website. That old “Know Your PAN” lookup has been withdrawn, and today’s services need the PAN itself plus an OTP to your own mobile. If you have forgotten your own PAN, check your PAN letter or e-PAN email, Form 16 or tax documents; download your e-PAN with your Aadhaar if you got it through Instant e-PAN; or ask your bank, employer or the agency that issued it. Never apply for a second PAN.

What happened to “PAN details by name and date of birth”?

When this article was first written, the old income tax e-filing website had a “Know Your PAN” form. You entered a surname, first name and date of birth, and the site showed the matching PAN, the holder’s name, the jurisdiction and whether the PAN was active. An earlier version of this article explained how to use it.

That service is gone. The old website (incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) no longer works, and the current e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) does not offer a name-and-date-of-birth search. Its “Verify your PAN” service works the other way round: you must already know the PAN, and the portal sends an OTP to a mobile number before it confirms anything. This protects people’s tax identity from being looked up by strangers.

So this guide now covers what you can legitimately do: find your own PAN when you have forgotten it or lost the card.

How to find your own PAN number

1. Check documents you already have

Your PAN is printed or quoted on many documents. Look for:

• your PAN card, or the letter that came with it;
• the e-PAN PDF emailed to you by Protean (formerly NSDL e-Gov), UTIITSL or the Income Tax Department; search your inbox for “e-PAN”;
• Form 16 or salary slips from your employer;
• an income tax return acknowledgement, if you have filed a return before;
• statements or welcome letters from your demat account, broker or mutual funds, which record your PAN for KYC.

2. Download your e-PAN with Aadhaar (Instant e-PAN holders)

If you got your PAN through the Income Tax Department’s free Instant e-PAN service, you can retrieve it with Aadhaar:

1. Go to incometax.gov.in and choose Instant e-PAN under Quick Links.
2. Select Check Status / Download e-PAN.
3. Enter your 12-digit Aadhaar number and the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile.
4. View or download the e-PAN, which shows your PAN.

3. Use your bank’s net banking

The e-filing portal allows individuals to log in through their bank’s net banking if their PAN is linked to that bank account. If your bank offers this, logging in that way takes you into your own e-filing account, where your profile shows your PAN details.

4. Ask organisations that already hold your PAN

Banks, employers, brokers and insurers usually collect your PAN for KYC or tax deduction. As the account holder or employee, you can ask them for the PAN they have on record, after they verify your identity.

5. Contact the agency that issued your PAN

If none of the above works, contact the agency that processed your PAN application and ask what they need to help you:

• Protean PAN call centre: 020-27218080 (7 am to 11 pm daily)
• UTIITSL helpdesk: 033-40802999 (9 am to 8 pm daily)

You can also approach your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer at the Income Tax Department.

Confirm the PAN you found

Once you have a number you believe is yours, confirm it with the e-filing portal’s Verify your PAN service:

1. On incometax.gov.in, under Quick Links, choose Verify your PAN.
2. Enter the PAN, your full name, your date of birth and your mobile number.
3. Enter the 6-digit OTP sent to your mobile (valid for 15 minutes, with three attempts).
4. The portal confirms whether the details match and shows the PAN’s status.

If it shows the PAN as inoperative, it is probably not linked with Aadhaar; see our guide to checking PAN status and fixing an inoperative PAN.

Getting a new copy of your PAN card

When you know your PAN, you can download the e-PAN from Protean or UTIITSL (free within 30 days of issue or change, ₹8.26 after that) or order a reprint of the card for ₹50 to an Indian address. Our duplicate PAN card guide walks through both.

What not to do

• Do not apply for a new PAN because you cannot find the old one. Holding more than one PAN is not allowed, and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) notes a ₹10,000 penalty for PAN-related defaults.
• Do not use websites or apps that claim to find any PAN by name and date of birth. They are not official, and entering your Aadhaar or other details on them puts your data at risk.
• Do not try to look up someone else’s PAN. A PAN is personal financial information. Businesses that need to verify a customer’s PAN use authorised channels, such as the e-filing portal’s verification service for registered external agencies, with the PAN the customer gives them.

Why you need to know your PAN

You need your PAN to file income tax returns, to avoid higher tax deduction at source (TDS) on payments to you, and to complete transactions where quoting PAN is mandatory, such as many property, vehicle, bank and investment transactions. The list of these transactions and their limits was revised from 1 April 2026 under the Income-tax Rules, 2026. You do not have to carry the card everywhere: for most forms you only need the number, and you can keep your e-PAN on your phone, though a particular office may still ask to see the card. Our explainer on what a PAN card is covers this in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Can I find my PAN number using my Aadhaar number?

If your PAN was issued through Instant e-PAN, yes: use “Check Status / Download e-PAN” on incometax.gov.in with your Aadhaar and OTP. For other PANs, there is no public Aadhaar-to-PAN lookup; use your documents, your bank or the issuing agency.

Can I find someone else’s PAN by name and date of birth?

No. There is no official service for that, and you should not try. If you need someone’s PAN for a legitimate reason, such as a rent receipt or a business payment, ask that person to give it to you.

Is the “Verify your PAN” service a way to search for a PAN?

No. It only checks a PAN you enter against the name and date of birth, after an OTP to your mobile. It cannot find a PAN for you.

I found two PANs in my name. What should I do?

Keep the one you use, and ask your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer to cancel the other. PIB states that no person may hold more than one PAN.

This guide was checked in October 2026 against the Income Tax e-filing portal’s user manuals for Verify your PAN, Instant e-PAN and login, Protean’s and UTIITSL’s PAN pages, and PIB’s PAN 2.0 releases. Use only official portals for PAN services.