The forms used to apply for and update the Permanent Account Number (PAN) has been amended to include the third gender. According to a gazette notification issued dated April 9,2018, Form 49A and Form 49AA, will now also have the option of transgender, along with the 'Male' and 'Female'.

Aadhaar and the voter ID already have the 'third gender' as an option in their forms.

Why this was needed

Pan card is an important financial document as it is required to avail various financial services like opening a bank account, investing in fixed deposits, filing ITR and so on.

Last year, the government introduced section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, which made it mandatory for applicants applying for new PAN card to quote their Aadhaar number from July 1, 2017. Existing PAN card holders were asked to link it with Aadhaar to avoid their PAN card becoming invalid. However, since Aadhaar already has the third gender as an option and PAN so far did not have the option, it posed as a serious problem.