PAN translates into Personal Account Number. It is a unique number assigned to each individual, entity and trust in India. It is also assigned to foreign nationals who make taxable earnings in India. It is accepted as a proof of identity. There are ten characters in the PAN and they indicate the status of the card holder such as whether the person is an individual, entity, etc. It is an important document for taxation purposes.

For many financial transactions, it has been made compulsory to quote the PAN details.