In another move to improve ease of doing business in India, the Income Tax Department has tied up with the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) to issue Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) and Tax Deduction Account Numbers (TAN) within a day, an official said on Tuesday.

“The Central Board of Direct Taxes has tied up with MCA to issue Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) in one day,” a Finance Ministry statement said here.

“Applicant companies submit a common application form SPICe (INC 32) on the MCA portal and once the data of incorporation is sent to the Central Board of Direct Taxes by MCA, the PAN and TAN are issued immediately without any further intervention from the applicant,” it said.

During the last fiscal ended March 31, “19,704 newly incorporated companies were allotted PAN in this manner,” it added. During March 2017, of the 10,894 newly incorporated companies, PAN was allotted within four hours in 95.63 per cent of the cases and within one day in all cases.

Similarly, TAN was allotted to all such companies within four hours in 94.7 per cent cases, and within one day in 99.73 per cent cases, the Ministry said.

The Income Tax Department has also introduced the electronic PAN Card (E-PAN), which is sent by e-mail, in addition to the issue of the physical PAN Card, to all applicants, including to the individuals who have been allotted PAN, the statement added.