TAN Registration in 2026: Who Needs It, Form 135, Fee and Step-by-Step Process

The first time your business has to deduct TDS — on a contractor's bill, your CA's fee, office rent or a new employee's salary — you need a TAN before you can deposit a single rupee of that tax. This guide is for proprietors, partners, directors and accountants setting up TDS compliance in 2026. It explains who must register, the new Form 134 and Form 135 that replaced Form 49B on 1 April 2026, the Protean fee and documents, how long allotment takes, how TAN differs from PAN, how to fix a wrong TAN and what happens if you skip it. Everything was checked against the Income-tax Act 2025 and the Protean TIN portal in October 2026.

Quick answer

TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number) is a 10-character number every person who deducts or collects tax at source must obtain under section 397 of the Income-tax Act 2025. Non-government deductors apply on Form 135 (government offices use Form 134) online through Protean or at a TIN facilitation centre; companies and LLPs can get it inside their MCA incorporation form.

• Fee: ₹77 including GST; proofs and the signed acknowledgment must reach Protean within 15 days

• Form 49B is no longer accepted for fresh applications from 1 April 2026; existing TANs stay valid

• Quote the TAN on every TDS/TCS challan, statement and certificate

• Penalty for not applying or quoting a false TAN: ₹10,000 (section 468)

• Property buyers and some individual payers can deduct using PAN, without a TAN

What is TAN?

TAN stands for Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number. The Income Tax Department describes it as a 10-digit alpha-numeric number that must be obtained by everyone responsible for deducting tax at source (TDS) or collecting tax at source (TCS). It works as the account number for your role as a deductor: every challan you pay, every quarterly statement you file and every TDS certificate you issue is tied to it.

A TAN has a fixed structure — four letters, five digits and a final letter, for example MUMA12345B. The first three letters usually indicate the city or jurisdiction where it was allotted, the fourth is the first letter of the deductor's name, and the remaining characters are system-generated. That structure is why a TAN never looks like a PAN, which has five letters, four digits and a letter.

The legal duty now sits in section 397(1) of the Income-tax Act 2025, which took over from section 203A of the 1961 Act on 1 April 2026. Clause (a) says every person deducting or collecting tax shall apply for a TAN within the prescribed time if one has not already been allotted. Clause (b) says the TAN must be quoted in all challans, statements and certificates, and in other prescribed documents. The procedure is in Rule 216 of the Income-tax Rules 2026.

Who needs a TAN — and who can manage without one

You need a TAN as soon as you are legally required to deduct or collect tax at source. In practice that means:

• Every employer paying salary above the basic exemption to at least one employee.
• Companies, LLPs, partnership firms, trusts, societies and co-operatives paying contractors, professionals, rent, commission or interest above the TDS thresholds.
• Proprietors and HUFs whose business turnover exceeded ₹1 crore, or professional receipts exceeded ₹50 lakh, in the previous year — the tax-audit test that brings them under the main TDS provisions.
• Sellers who must collect TCS, such as dealers in scrap or certain motor vehicles, and buyers who must deduct TDS on large purchases of goods above ₹50 lakh from one supplier.
• Government offices — the Central and State Governments and local authorities, which now use their own form.

The same TAN covers both TDS and TCS, so a business that does both doesn't need two numbers.

Section 397(1)(c) switches off the TAN requirement in a few situations. A resident individual or HUF buying immovable property deducts tax on the price using their PAN. Individuals and HUFs who are not under tax audit but must deduct on monthly rent above the threshold, or on large contract and professional payments under the special provisions carried over from old sections 194-IB and 194M, also deduct and report using their PAN. The same applies to specified persons deducting on transfers of virtual digital assets. These payers file a simple challan-cum-statement, not quarterly TDS returns.

Take two examples. A salaried manager in Pune buying a ₹75 lakh flat deducts TDS on the sale price with her PAN and needs no TAN. A Pune proprietorship with ₹1.4 crore turnover last year that now pays a ₹60,000 professional fee to an architect must deduct TDS and therefore needs a TAN before the deposit date.

If you're unsure whether a payment attracts TDS at all, our guide to TDS lists the rates and thresholds, and the TDS calculator works out the deduction.

TAN at a glance (2026)

₹77

Protean fee

₹65 + 18% GST

15 days

For documents to reach Protean

after online application

10 characters

TAN format

4 letters, 5 digits, 1 letter

₹10,000

Penalty for not applying

section 468

Form 134 vs Form 135: what changed on 1 April 2026

For years the only TAN application was Form 49B. When the Income-tax Rules 2026 came into force on 1 April 2026, it was split into two forms:

• Form 134 — for government deductors: the Central Government, State Governments and local authorities. It needs the 7-digit Accounts Office Identification Number (AIN) and a certificate from the Pay and Accounts Office, Zonal Accounts Office, District Treasury Office or Cheque Drawing and Disbursing Officer.
• Form 135 — for everyone else: individuals, proprietorship branches, HUFs, firms, LLPs, companies and their branches or divisions, AOPs, BOIs, trusts, artificial juridical persons and statutory or autonomous bodies.

The bigger change for businesses is in the paperwork. Form 135 makes the applicant's PAN mandatory, requires the company's CIN or the LLP's LLPIN where relevant, and asks for the name and PAN of the person responsible for deduction. Under the 2026 Rules, Protean now also asks for proof of identity, proof of address and proof of date of birth or date of incorporation to be sent with the signed acknowledgment. Older guides that say "no documents needed" describe the Form 49B era.

TAN forms before and after 1 April 2026

	Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)	Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)	Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)
Who uses it	All deductors	Central/State Government, local authorities	Companies, LLPs, firms, individuals, HUFs, trusts, branches and others
Law	s.203A, 1961 Act; Rule 114A	s.397, 2025 Act; Rule 216	s.397, 2025 Act; Rule 216
PAN of applicant	Not compulsory	AIN and accounts-office certificate	Mandatory
Supporting documents	Generally none online	PAO/ZAO/DTO/CDDO certificate	Proof of identity, address, date of birth or incorporation
Fee	₹65 + GST	As notified by Protean	₹77 incl. GST

Who uses it

Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)

All deductors

Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)

Central/State Government, local authorities

Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)

Companies, LLPs, firms, individuals, HUFs, trusts, branches and others

Law

Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)

s.203A, 1961 Act; Rule 114A

Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)

s.397, 2025 Act; Rule 216

Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)

s.397, 2025 Act; Rule 216

PAN of applicant

Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)

Not compulsory

Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)

AIN and accounts-office certificate

Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)

Mandatory

Supporting documents

Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)

Generally none online

Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)

PAO/ZAO/DTO/CDDO certificate

Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)

Proof of identity, address, date of birth or incorporation

Fee

Form 49B (till 31 March 2026)

₹65 + GST

Form 134 (from 1 April 2026)

As notified by Protean

Form 135 (from 1 April 2026)

₹77 incl. GST

If you already hold a TAN from before April 2026, nothing changes for you. It stays valid, you keep quoting it, and you only touch the new forms if your details change.

How to apply for TAN online through Protean

Protean eGov Technologies (formerly NSDL e-Gov) runs the TIN portal on behalf of the Income Tax Department. The online route is the most common for small businesses.

Applying for a TAN on Form 135

1. 1

   Open the TAN application on the TIN portal

   Go to Protean's Online Application for TAN page and choose Form 135 (non-government). Select the deductor category — company, firm, LLP, individual, branch and so on.

   Open Protean TAN application
2. 2

   Fill in the deductor details

   Enter the name exactly as on PAN, the PAN, CIN or LLPIN where applicable, the office address where TDS work is done, contact details and the name, designation and PAN of the person responsible for deduction.

   Tip: Use an email ID the accounts team checks — the TAN arrives there.

3. 3

   Fix errors and confirm

   The portal flags format errors on screen. Correct them, review the confirmation page carefully and submit. You cannot edit the application after this point.

4. 4

   Pay the fee

   Pay ₹77 by net banking, debit or credit card, or by demand draft/cheque in favour of 'Protean - TIN'. A 14-digit acknowledgment number is generated.

5. 5

   Sign and send the acknowledgment

   Print the acknowledgment, sign inside the box (an authorised signatory for non-individuals) and post it with copies of the proof documents to Protean's Pune office so it arrives within 15 days.

   Tip: Write 'APPLICATION FOR TAN – Acknowledgment Number' and the number on the envelope.

6. 6

   Track and receive the TAN

   Track status on the TIN portal or by SMS. The Income Tax Department allots the TAN, which is emailed to you and also sent by letter.

Companies, LLPs, individuals and similar deductors with a digital signature certificate can also sign the application electronically through Protean's DSC utility; check the instructions on that route for what still has to be sent by post. The paper route is still available: fill a physical Form 135 and submit it at a TIN facilitation centre or PAN centre, which digitises it and forwards it.

Companies and LLPs being incorporated should not apply separately. SPICe+ for companies and FiLLiP for LLPs carry PAN and TAN fields, and the TAN is allotted with the certificate of incorporation. The fee — ₹65 for TAN — is added to the MCA challan. Our guides to company registration and LLP registration walk through those forms.

Documents you need for Form 135

The exact proof depends on who you are, but plan for the following.

Keep these ready before you apply

0/8

• PAN of the applicant entity or individual (mandatory on Form 135)
• Certificate of incorporation with CIN (company) or LLPIN (LLP)
• Partnership deed or registration certificate (firm); trust deed or society registration (trust/society)
• Proof of address of the office where TDS work is handled — utility bill, rent agreement or property document
• Proof of identity of the applicant or authorised signatory
• Proof of date of birth (individuals) or date of incorporation/formation (entities)
• Name, designation and PAN of the person responsible for deduction
• Signed acknowledgment, plus demand draft if you didn't pay online

Share Print

A branch that wants its own TAN applies in the parent's name with the branch address and designation of the branch head. An individual proprietor applies in their own name, because the TAN belongs to the person rather than the shop.

TAN fee, timeline and how you receive it

The Protean fee is ₹77 — a ₹65 processing charge plus 18% GST. It is the same whether you apply online or at a TIN facilitation centre, and it is not refunded if your application is rejected for missing documents. The Income Tax Department charges nothing extra.

Processing begins only when three things are in place: the signed acknowledgment, the proof documents and cleared payment. Protean says incomplete or deficient applications are treated as invalid, so a missing date-of-incorporation proof can delay you by weeks. Once complete, most applicants report receiving the TAN by email within about one to two weeks; that is an observed range from practitioners, not an official service standard.

Plan the timing around your first TDS deposit. TDS deducted in a month must be deposited by the 7th of the next month, and the challan needs a TAN. If you hire your first employee in June, apply in May. If the TAN hasn't arrived and the deposit date is close, keep the deducted amount aside — you cannot pay it without the TAN, and interest runs from the due date.

TAN vs PAN: why a business needs both

People often ask whether a PAN can do a TAN's job. It can't, because the two numbers track different things. PAN identifies a taxpayer and tracks that person's own income, tax payments and high-value transactions. TAN identifies a deductor and tracks the tax that person deducts or collects from others. A company files its own income tax return under its PAN and its quarterly TDS statements under its TAN.

You'll still use your PAN in TDS work. Section 397(2) requires every deductee to give their PAN to the deductor and requires both sides to show it on bills, vouchers and correspondence. If a payee doesn't furnish a valid PAN, you deduct at the higher of the normal rate and 20% in most cases. Our guide to PAN for business covers getting the entity's PAN.

Penalties for not getting or not quoting a TAN

Section 468 of the Income-tax Act 2025 lets the Assessing Officer impose a penalty of ₹10,000 on a person who fails to comply with section 397 — that is, doesn't apply for a TAN when required or doesn't quote it where the law says. The same amount applies to quoting a TAN you know or believe to be false. This mirrors section 272BB of the 1961 Act. The penalty is discretionary, and a reasonable cause such as a pending application can be argued.

The bigger cost is what you can't do without a TAN. You can't deposit TDS, so interest accrues each month. You can't file quarterly statements, so the late fee of ₹200 a day runs until filing, capped at the TDS amount. Your payees don't get credit in their Form 26AS or AIS, which damages relationships with contractors and staff. And payments on which TDS wasn't deducted or deposited can be partly disallowed when computing your own business income.

A Jaipur trading firm that started paying a transporter ₹40,000 a month in April but only applied for a TAN in August is a typical case. It would owe interest on four months of late deposits, late fees on the first-quarter statement, a possible ₹10,000 penalty, and the transporter would have chased it for missing credits. Applying in March would have avoided all of it.

Correcting, changing or surrendering a TAN

Details on a TAN can be changed after allotment, but never by editing the original application. Use Protean's change or correction in TAN data form, online or at a TIN facilitation centre. Tick only the fields you want to change, attach the supporting proof and pay the processing fee shown on the portal before you submit.

Common reasons to file a change request:

• Address change. A move within the same jurisdiction keeps the same TAN, though your Assessing Officer may change. A move to a different city doesn't need a fresh TAN either — update the address instead.
• Name change, for example after a company changes its name or a firm is reconstituted, with the fresh certificate or deed as proof.
• Wrong category. A category can be corrected only if it was wrongly recorded, such as a company shown as a firm.
• Duplicate TANs. If more than one TAN was allotted to the same deductor for the same office, keep the one you have been using in TDS statements and surrender the others in the same form.

Most rejections and delays at the application stage come from a handful of avoidable slips. The name on Form 135 doesn't match the name on the PAN, often because an abbreviation or "M/s" was added. The acknowledgment is signed outside the box, or by someone who isn't an authorised signatory. The proof of date of incorporation is missing because the applicant assumed the CIN was enough. Or the demand draft is drawn in the wrong name. Check each of these before you post the envelope and you'll avoid a second round.

Don't apply for a new TAN to fix an error. Two TANs split your TDS records across two accounts, and reconciling challans and statements later is far harder than a correction. If you've forgotten your TAN, the Know Your TAN search on the Income Tax e-filing portal finds it by name and state, and it also appears on old challans and Form 16A certificates.

After you get your TAN

Allotment is only step one. A TAN that sits unused in an email inbox doesn't make you compliant; the accounts team has to wire it into every system that touches TDS.

Set up TDS compliance once the TAN arrives

1. 1

   Register as a tax deductor on the e-filing portal

   Register the TAN on incometax.gov.in so you can view notices, respond to defaults and link the person responsible for deduction.

2. 2

   Register on TRACES

   TRACES is the TDS reconciliation portal. You need it to download Form 16/16A-type certificates, consolidated files and default statements.

3. 3

   Quote the TAN on every challan and statement

   Each online TDS payment and each quarterly statement must carry the TAN — a wrong TAN sends the money to someone else's account.

4. 4

   Update invoices, vouchers and payroll

   Add the TAN and PAN to payment vouchers and salary slips, and collect PAN from every vendor before the first payment.

The government has also approved the PAN 2.0 project, under which TAN services will move with PAN services to a single Income Tax Department portal. Until that portal is announced as live, keep using Protean's TIN site; your TAN will stay the same.

Official links

• Protean — Online application for TAN (Form 134/135)Apply, pay and print the acknowledgment
• Income Tax Department — TANWhat TAN is and who needs it
• Section 397, Income-tax Act 2025Duty to obtain and quote TAN; exemptions
• Income Tax e-filing portalRegister as tax deductor; Know your TAN
• TRACESTDS certificates, defaults and corrections

What to do next

If your business will make its first TDS deduction in the next few weeks, apply for the TAN now on Form 135 and send the documents the same day. Then work out your deductions with the TDS calculator and read what TDS is and how it works for the deposit and return dates. Setting up a company or LLP instead? Get the TAN inside SPICe+ or FiLLiP rather than applying twice.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

Is Form 49B still used for TAN in 2026?

No. From 1 April 2026, with the Income-tax Act 2025 and Income-tax Rules 2026 in force, Form 49B was replaced by two forms: Form 134 for Central and State Government offices and local authorities, and Form 135 for everyone else — companies, LLPs, firms, proprietors, HUFs, trusts and other non-government deductors. Existing TANs remain valid; only fresh applications use the new forms.

What is the fee for TAN registration?

Protean charges ₹77 for a TAN application — a ₹65 processing charge plus 18% GST — whether you apply online or at a TIN facilitation centre. Companies and LLPs that apply for TAN inside the MCA incorporation forms pay the TAN fee (₹65) in the same MCA challan. There is no separate government fee beyond this.

How long does it take to get a TAN?

Protean starts processing only after it receives your signed acknowledgment, the required proof documents and cleared payment, which must reach it within 15 days of the online application. In practice most applicants receive the TAN by email within one to two weeks of that; this is an observed range, not an official timeline. Applications made through SPICe+ or FiLLiP come with the incorporation certificate.

Can I use my PAN instead of a TAN?

Only in narrow cases. Section 397 of the Income-tax Act 2025 exempts certain deductors — for example a resident individual or HUF deducting tax on buying immovable property, and individuals deducting on high rent or certain contract and professional payments under the special provisions — who deduct and report using their PAN. A business deducting TDS on salaries, contractors, rent or professional fees needs a TAN.

What is the penalty for not having a TAN?

If you are required to deduct or collect tax and don't apply for a TAN, or don't quote it where required, the Assessing Officer can levy a penalty of ₹10,000 under section 468 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (section 272BB under the old Act). The same amount applies for quoting a false TAN. Without a TAN you also cannot deposit TDS or file TDS statements, so interest and late fees follow.

Do I need a separate TAN for each branch?

No. One TAN can serve the whole entity, and the same TAN is used for both TDS and TCS. A company may, however, choose to obtain separate TANs for branches or divisions that handle their own deductions — Form 135 has a category for branches. If you hold two TANs by mistake for the same office, surrender the one not in use through the change request form.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 8 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Section 397 — Compliance and reporting (Income-tax Act, 2025) — Income Tax Department, Government of India · accessed 8 October 2026
2. 2.TAN — About TAN — Income Tax Department, Government of India · accessed 8 October 2026
3. 3.Online Application for TAN (Form 134 and Form 135) — Protean eGov Technologies (CBDT service provider) · accessed 8 October 2026
4. 4.FAQs on PAN 2.0 Project — Press Information Bureau, Government of India · accessed 8 October 2026
5. 5.Income-tax Forms 134 and 135 — application for allotment of TAN (FAQs and guidance note) — TaxGuru (reproducing Income Tax Department FAQs) · accessed 8 October 2026
6. 6.New income-tax penalties under the Income-tax Act 2025 — TaxHeal · accessed 8 October 2026
7. 7.TAN registration online: step-by-step process and documents (2026) — CompuTax · accessed 8 October 2026