TAN Registration

What is TAN and who issues it?

TAN, the Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number, is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the Income Tax Department to every person responsible for deducting or collecting tax at source. Protean eGov Technologies, formerly NSDL e-Governance, receives and processes TAN applications on the department's behalf through the Tax Information Network.

Protean's guidance states the position plainly: TAN "is a 10 digit alpha numeric number required to be obtained by all persons who are responsible for deducting or collecting tax." Under Section 397 of the Income Tax Act, 2025, quoting the TAN allotted by the Income Tax Department on all TDS returns is mandatory.

TAN exists because the tax deducted from a payment has to be traced back to the person who deducted it. When an employer deducts TDS from salary or a company deducts TDS from a contractor's bill, the deducted amount must be credited to the right deductee's tax account. TAN is the key that links every deposit, every quarterly return and every Form 16 or Form 16A back to a single deducting office.

TAN is not PAN. The two are easy to confuse because both are ten characters long, but they answer different questions. PAN identifies the taxpayer whose income is being assessed. TAN identifies the office deducting tax from somebody else's income. A company will hold one PAN and, quite often, several TANs.

Who must obtain a TAN?

You must apply if:

• You are an employer deducting TDS from salaries.
• You are a business, firm, LLP or company deducting tax at source on contractor payments, professional fees, rent, commission, interest or any other specified payment.
• You are a government office, local authority or statutory body deducting or collecting tax. Government deductors apply on Form 134.
• You are an individual or HUF whose accounts are subject to audit and who is therefore required to deduct TDS on specified payments.
• You are responsible for collecting tax at source, for example a seller of specified goods.
• You operate a branch or division that independently deducts tax and files its own TDS returns. That branch needs its own TAN even though the legal entity already holds one.

You cannot apply, or do not need to, if:

• You are an individual deducting TDS on the purchase of immovable property. This deduction is reported using the buyer's PAN on the prescribed challan-cum- statement, and no TAN is required.
• You are a salaried individual with no deduction obligations of your own. Tax deducted from your salary is your employer's responsibility under their TAN.
• You are an ordinary individual or HUF not subject to tax audit and with no statutory obligation to deduct tax.
• You already hold a TAN for the same deducting office. Holding duplicate TANs for one office causes TDS credits to fragment across returns, and a duplicate should be surrendered through the correction request rather than left dormant.

Which form and what does TAN registration cost?

These form numbers follow the renumbering that came with the Income Tax Act, 2025, and replace the Form 49B that applicants used under the earlier law. Any template, guide or consultant still handing you a "Form 49B" is working from superseded material.

The fee is straightforward. Protean states that the processing fee for both applications, new TAN and change request, is Rs 77, including Goods and Services Tax. There is no sliding scale by entity type, no urgency surcharge, and no separate charge for the allotment letter.

How to apply for TAN online

1. Open the Protean Tax Information Network portal at tinpan.proteantech.in and go to the TAN section under Services.
2. Select Apply Online and choose your category of deductor — company, firm, individual or HUF, branch of a company, central or state government, statutory body, autonomous body, or local authority. This choice determines whether the portal loads Form 134 or Form 135.
3. Fill in the application. Enter the name and address of the deductor exactly as it appears in your registration documents, the deductor's PAN, the nature of the payments on which you will deduct tax, and the assessing officer code if you know it.
4. Enter the details of the person responsible for deducting tax, their name, designation and address. The form treats this as separate information from the deductor's own details, and applicants routinely leave it incomplete.
5. Pay the Rs 77 processing fee by net banking, debit card, credit card or demand draft.
6. Save the acknowledgement. On successful submission the portal generates an acknowledgement screen carrying a unique 14-digit acknowledgement number, the applicant's details and a space for signature. Print it.
7. Sign and post the acknowledgement to the Protean processing address printed on it, within the period stated on the acknowledgement. Write "APPLICATION FOR TAN" and the acknowledgement number on the envelope.
8. Track the application using the acknowledgement number on the Protean status page, and note the TAN once allotted.

How to apply for TAN offline

1. Visit a TIN Facilitation Centre (TIN-FC) operated by Protean. The portal publishes a centre locator.
2. Collect and complete the current TAN application form for your category of deductor, in block letters and in English.
3. Submit it at the counter and pay the Rs 77 processing fee.
4. Collect the acknowledgement receipt and retain the acknowledgement number for tracking.

The offline route suits deductors without reliable internet access and those who would rather have the form checked at the counter before submission. It costs the same Rs 77.

How to register TAN on the tax portals

Obtaining a TAN is only the first half of the job. Before you can actually file a TDS return or issue a Form 16, the TAN must be registered on the department's systems.

1. Register the TAN on the e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in, selecting Tax Deductor and Collector as the user type and entering the TAN. This is the account from which TDS statements and related forms are filed.
2. Register on TRACES, the TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System, using the TAN together with details from an accepted TDS statement. TRACES is where you download Form 16 and Form 16A, view challan status and file corrections.
3. Verify the TAN details using the Know TAN Details facility on the e-filing portal, which confirms the name and address recorded against the TAN before you begin filing.

Why TAN applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Acknowledgement never posted. The online submission alone does not complete the application; the signed acknowledgement must reach Protean. This is the single most common failure.
• Wrong category of deductor selected, which loads the wrong form and produces a mismatch with your registration documents.
• Deductor name inconsistent with the name in the PAN or incorporation records. Enter it exactly as registered, without trading abbreviations.
• Responsible person's details left blank or given as the same block of text as the deductor's details.
• Incorrect assessing officer code. If you do not know it, use the search facility on the portal rather than guessing.
• Duplicate TAN already exists for the same deducting office.

A rejection notice names the defect. Correcting that one item and resubmitting is faster than starting again, and a change or correction request carries the same Rs 77 fee.

How do I get help with a TAN problem?

• PAN and TAN application queries (Tax Information Network): +91-20-27218080, 07:00 to 23:00 hrs, all days
• TDS, Form 16 and Form 26AS queries (TRACES): 1800 103 0344 (toll-free) or +91-120-4814600, 10:00 to 18:00 hrs, Monday to Saturday
• e-Filing helpline: 1800 103 0025 or 1800 419 0025, 08:00 to 20:00 hrs, Monday to Friday
• Portals: incometax.gov.in and tinpan.proteantech.in

Applying for a TAN directly on the Protean portal costs the government processing fee of Rs 77 including GST, and nothing more, the same Rs 77 whether it is a new TAN or a correction. Registering the TAN afterwards on the e-filing portal and on TRACES is entirely free. Consultants and company-formation websites frequently bundle TAN registration into packages costing several thousand rupees, and while paying for professional help with your TDS compliance may well be sensible, you should know that the government's own charge for the TAN itself is Rs 77. Apply at tinpan.proteantech.in, pay only the published fee, and never share portal credentials or OTPs with anyone.

Who is eligible

Eligible to apply for TAN:

• Any employer, business, firm, LLP or company that deducts tax at source on salaries, contractor payments, professional fees, rent, commission or interest.
• Government offices, local authorities and statutory or autonomous bodies that deduct or collect tax (these use Form 134).
• Individuals and HUFs whose accounts fall under tax audit and who therefore have a statutory TDS obligation.
• Sellers or collectors responsible for tax collected at source on specified goods.
• Each branch or division of a company that deducts tax independently and files its own TDS returns, even if the parent entity already holds a TAN.
• Trusts, associations of persons and societies that take on a TDS-deducting role, for example an employer trust running payroll.

Not eligible, or not required to apply:

• A salaried individual who has no deduction obligation of their own; TDS on their salary is filed under the employer's TAN, not a personal one.
• An individual or HUF outside tax audit with no statutory duty to deduct tax.
• A buyer of immovable property deducting TDS on the purchase; this is reported against the buyer's PAN on the prescribed statement-cum-challan, so no TAN is issued for this transaction.
• An entity or office that already holds a valid TAN for the same deducting unit; a fresh application here creates a duplicate that later needs to be surrendered.
• An applicant who cannot furnish a PAN for the deductor, since PAN details are a mandatory field on both Form 134 and Form 135.

How to check your application status

An applicant tracks a TAN application the same way whether it was filed online or at a TIN Facilitation Centre, using the 14-digit acknowledgement number generated at submission.

1. Go to the status-tracking page on the Protean Tax Information Network portal at tinpan.proteantech.in and choose the TAN application status option, separate from the PAN status option on the same site.
2. Enter the 14-digit acknowledgement number exactly as printed on the acknowledgement receipt, along with any other field the form asks for, such as the applicant's name.
3. The result shows one of a small number of states: application received, under process, sent for verification, objection raised, or TAN allotted. An objection or rejection is shown with the specific defect that caused it, such as a missing signature or an incomplete responsible-person field.
4. If the status has not moved from "received" for longer than expected, the most common cause is that the signed acknowledgement was never posted to Protean, since the online submission by itself does not complete the application. Check the courier or postal tracking for that envelope before contacting the helpline.
5. For a status query that the portal cannot resolve, call the PAN/TAN applications line at +91-20-27218080 (07:00 to 23:00, all days) with the acknowledgement number ready.
6. Once the portal shows TAN allotted, the allotment letter is generated and the TAN itself becomes visible through the "Know TAN Details" facility on incometax.gov.in, which is the same facility used later to verify the TAN before registering it on the e-filing portal and on TRACES.
7. There is no separate SMS status service for TAN allotment; the acknowledgement-number lookup on the Protean portal is the authoritative channel, and calling the helpline before checking online only lengthens the wait since the operator relies on the same system.