Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) is an alphanumeric

Alphanumeric

Alphanumeric is a combination of alphabetic and numeric characters, and is used to describe the collection of Latin letters and Arabic digits or a text constructed from this collection. There are either 36 or 62 alphanumeric characters. The alphanumeric character set consists of the numbers 0 to...

 number issued to individuals who are required to deduct tax on payments made by them under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961.

Significance

• An Assessee cannot obtain a TAN number without having a PAN
  Permanent account number
  Permanent Account Number is unique alphanumeric combination issued to all juristic entities identifiable under the Indian Income Tax Act 1961. It is issued by the Indian Income Tax Department under the supervision of the Central Board for Direct Taxes and is almost equivalent to a national...
  
  .
• The Tax Deducted at Source
  Tax Deducted at Source
  TDS or best known Tax Deducted at Source is one of the modes of collecting Income-tax from the assessees in India. This is governed under Indian Income Tax Act, 1961, by the Central Board for Direct Taxes and is part of the Department of Revenue managed by Indian Revenue Service , Ministry of...
  
  on payments made by assessees has to be deposited under the following number to enable the assessees who have received the payments to claim the tax deducted in their income tax return.

Applying for TAN

TAN should applied through Form No 49B (prescribed under Income Tax Law). Such form can be submitted online at NSDL website. OR can also be submitted at Tax Information Network Facilitation Center (TIN-FC). These centers are established by NSDL (which is an appointed intermediary by the Government) across India.

TAN Application should accompany a 'proof of identity' and a 'proof of address' (photocopies) of the deductor. In case, the application is made online, these documents need to be sent over mail (post/courier) to NSDL - TAN Application division.

Once NSDL receives the TAN application along with said documents (either through TIN FC / Online), the details are verified and then sent to Income Tax Department. Once approved, Income Tax Department will allocate a unique number, and indicate the applicant through NSDL.

Structure and validation

• TAN structure is as follows: AAAA99999A: First four characters are letters, next 5 numerals, last character letter.
• Each tax deductor is uniquely identified by his TAN.
• If the TAN does not follow the above structure, then the TAN will be shown invalid.
• The first three characters represent the city or state where the TAN was issued.
• The fourth character of the TAN is the initial letter of the tax deductor: