TAN or Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number is a 10 digit alpha numeric number required to be obtained by all persons who are responsible for deducting or collecting tax. It is compulsory to quote TAN in TDS / TCS return (including any e-TDS / TCS return), any TDS / TCS payment challan and TDS/TCS certificates.

All those persons who are required to deduct tax at source or collect tax at source on behalf of Income Tax Department are required to apply for and obtain TAN.

The provisions of section 203A of the Income-tax Act require all persons who deduct or collect tax at source to apply for the allotment of a TAN. The section also makes it mandatory for TAN to be quoted in all TDS/TCS returns, all TDS/TCS payment challans and all TDS/TCS certificates to be issued. Failure to apply for TAN or comply with any of the other provisions of the section attracts a penalty of Rs. 10,000/-

An application for allotment of TAN is to be filed in Form 49B and submitted at any of the TIN Facilitation Centres meant for receipt of e-TDS returns. The application form can be downloaded from the website of the Income Tax Department

No documents are required to be filed with the application for allotment of TAN. However, where the application is being made online, the acknowledgment which is generated after filling up the form will be required to be forwarded to NSDL.