How to file RTI for PAN card in Goa

If your PAN application, correction or reprint has been pending for weeks and the helplines cannot tell you why, the Right to Information Act 2005 is the cleanest way to force a written, dated answer from the Income Tax Department. This Goa-focused guide tells you exactly which office to write to, what fee to pay, how to file from a Goan address, and where to escalate when the reply does not come. For the all-India template, decision tree and case law, read the parent guide RTI for PAN card status first, then come back here for the Goa-specific details.

This is the single biggest source of rejected applications. The Goa State Information Commission at Kamat Towers, Patto Plaza, Panaji, has jurisdiction only over Goa state public authorities, such as the Goa police, the Corporation of the City of Panaji, the Public Works Department, the Directorate of Mines and Geology, and so on.

A PAN card is issued by the Income Tax Department, which works under the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. That is a Central Public Authority. Two agencies handle the paperwork on CBDT's behalf, Protean eGov Technologies (earlier NSDL e-Gov) through Protean PAN Services and TIN-NSDL, and UTIITSL. Both are explicitly described on their own portals as “authorized by the Income Tax Department”. They are intermediaries, not the public authority itself. The record-holding authority for your PAN file is CBDT.

The practical result is clean. Because CBDT is Central, your PAN RTI travels through the Central RTI machinery, not the state one. The Central RTI Online portal of the Department of Personnel and Training confirms on its home page that it serves “Ministries, Departments and other Public Authorities of Central Government” and that “applications filed through this portal for the public authorities under the State Governments … would be returned, without refund of amount.” That sentence works in your favour here. It means CBDT, being Central, is fully reachable through rtionline.gov.in, and you never need a Goa state portal for a PAN matter.

So the rule is simple. For PAN status, PAN correction delays, PAN-Aadhaar linking errors, e-PAN not received, duplicate PAN, surrender of a second PAN, or a PAN marked “found in the list of deleted or deactivated PANs”, the reply you want sits with CBDT. File Central.

There is one narrow exception worth naming. If a Goa state office demanded your PAN and you suspect that office mishandled it, for example the Goa Directorate of Commercial Taxes linked the wrong PAN to your GSTIN, or the Goa RTO refused a vehicle transfer citing a PAN mismatch, then the relevant record may be with the state office. In that case the Goa State Information Commission could be the appellate body. But the question “what is the status of my PAN application” almost always points to CBDT.

The Right to Information Act 2005 requires you to address your application to the Central Public Information Officer of the public authority that holds the information. For PAN, that public authority is CBDT. CBDT has designated CPIOs at several levels, and rtionline.gov.in routes your application to the correct CPIO automatically once you select the right public authority.

For a Goa resident, the realistic addressing options are:

If you are unsure which Income Tax ward covers your Goan address, file through rtionline.gov.in and let the Nodal Officer transfer the application under section 6(3) of the RTI Act. The Central portal FAQ explains that if you select the wrong public authority, the Nodal Officer transfers the application electronically to the correct one rather than rejecting it.

Because CBDT is a Central Public Authority, the Central fee rules apply, not the Goa state fee schedule.

Paying online from anywhere in Goa. Open rtionline.gov.in, choose Submit Request, fill the form, and pay the Rs. 10 through State Bank internet banking, an SBI ATM-cum-debit card, a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or UPI. You get a unique registration number instantly or after a short bank-scroll reconciliation that can take 24 to 48 working hours.

Paying by post. Attach an Indian Postal Order for Rs. 10 (crossed, in favour of the Accounts Officer of the public authority), or a demand draft. Postal applicants must keep the IPO counterfoil and the Speed Post tracking number, because the 30-day clock starts from the date the authority receives the letter, not the date you mailed it from Margao or Vasco.

BPL applicants. If you hold a valid Below Poverty Line ration card or certificate issued by the appropriate government, attach a copy and the Rs. 10 fee is waived under RTI Rules 2012. The rtionline portal confirms this exemption on its FAQ page.

Filing online is the recommended route because it gives you a dated registration number, an audit trail, and a built-in First Appeal button. Here is the end-to-end method.

1. Step 1, gather your references. Keep ready your 15-digit PAN acknowledgement number (begins with a letter for Protean, a number for UTIITSL), the date you applied, the form type (49A for citizens, 49AA for foreign citizens, reprint, correction), and your Aadhaar if you used it. The TIN-NSDL PAN page confirms that with effect from 8 April 2012 PAN applications must use the revised Form 49A for citizens and Form 49AA for foreign citizens.
2. Step 2, open rtionline.gov.in and click Submit Request. You do not need to create an account, the portal FAQ says you can file directly.
3. Step 3, select the Public Authority. Choose Ministry of Finance, then Department of Revenue, then Central Board of Direct Taxes. If the precise sub-office is unclear, the Nodal Officer will route it under section 6(3).
4. Step 4, write the application in the text box. The portal limits you to about 3000 characters. If your application is longer, attach it as a PDF in the Supporting Document column.
5. Step 5, pay Rs. 10 through net banking, card or UPI. Note the registration number you receive.
6. Step 6, track the application in the View Status tab. If the CPIO asks for an additional copy fee, you will see an alert there and can pay online.
7. Step 7, diarise Day 30. If no reply arrives, return to the portal on Day 31 and use Submit First Appeal.

You can draft the application text in minutes with the AI RTI Drafter, which produces a section 6(1) compliant application with the five standard questions. You can also estimate your deadline with the RTI Timeline Calculator and stress-test any reply you get with the PIO Reply Checker.

If you prefer paper, or your case needs annexures, file by Speed Post. Postal filing works because section 6(1) of the RTI Act lets an applicant “make a request in writing or through electronic means”. Address the envelope to the CPIO of the public authority holding the information.

A clean postal application from Goa contains:

1. A plain-paper application, English or Hindi, with the subject line quoting section 6(1) of the RTI Act 2005.
2. Your name, full Goan postal address, mobile number and email.
3. The five specific questions (see the sample below).
4. An Indian Postal Order for Rs. 10 payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority, or proof of BPL status.
5. A self-addressed stamped envelope if you want the reply by post.
6. Photocopies of the PAN acknowledgement, the fee receipt, and any prior correspondence.

Speed Post from Panaji, Margao or Vasco to Delhi or Mumbai typically clears in three to five working days. Keep the India Post tracking number. The reply deadline is 30 days from receipt by the authority, so the mailing time is on top of the 30 days, not part of it. If you want the file before you start, the RTI Timeline Calculator factors this in.

A common mistake is to mail the application to a Goa state office such as the Collector or the Directorate of Information and Publicity. Those offices will return the application or sit on it because they have no role in PAN allotment. PAN is a CBDT record. Mail it Central.

Section 7(1) of the RTI Act 2005 says the CPIO must reply within thirty days of receiving the application. The clock starts on the date the public authority receives your application, not the date you click Submit or the date you drop the envelope in a Panaji post box. Two practical consequences follow.

First, online applications are received almost instantly. The rtionline portal issues a registration number and routes the file to the Nodal Officer electronically, so Day 1 is effectively the filing day for online cases. This is the main reason online filing is faster for Goans than posting to Delhi.

Second, postal applications add the transit time. If you Speed Post on 1 August and India Post delivers on 5 August, your Day 30 falls on 4 September, not 31 August. Always pin the receipt date using the India Post delivery confirmation before counting days.

There are two shortened or extended timelines built into the Act:

A PAN delay is stressful but does not usually engage the 48-hour life-or-liberty proviso. Plan for 30 days online, 35 to 40 days by post.

If Day 30 passes without a reply, or the reply is evasive, the law gives you two escalation ladders plus a grievance back-channel.

1. Day 31, file a First Appeal under section 19(1) of the RTI Act to the First Appellate Authority of CBDT. The First Appeal is free. If you filed online, click Submit First Appeal on rtionline.gov.in, enter your original registration number and email, and write why the reply is unsatisfactory. If you filed by post, send the appeal to the FAA above the CPIO. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45 days with a recorded reason. Use the First Appeal Drafter to structure it.
2. Day 75 to 90, file a Second Appeal under section 19(3) to the Central Information Commission at cic.gov.in, within 90 days of the FAA decision (or of the date the FAA should have replied). The CIC's Second Appeal portal is now integrated with rtionline.gov.in, so if you filed online you can pull the original application and First Appeal details into the Second Appeal form automatically.
3. In parallel, file a CPGRAMS grievance at pgportal.gov.in against the Income Tax Department for “delay in PAN services”. This does not replace the RTI appeal, but a CPGRAMS escalation often jogs the file loose within a week or two.

Do not skip the First Appeal. The Central Information Commission almost always rejects a Second Appeal that has not first gone through the FAA, and section 19(3) itself requires exhaustion of the First Appeal.

Because PAN is Central, both appeals stay inside the Central system. The Goa State Information Commission is not in the chain for a PAN matter.

The Central Information Commission was constituted on 12 October 2005 under the RTI Act 2005, and its jurisdiction, as stated on its home page, “extends over all Central Public Authorities”. CBDT is one of them, so every PAN second appeal lands with the CIC, not the GSIC.

For completeness, if your issue truly concerns a Goa state body's misuse of your PAN, the appellate route would then be the Goa State Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner Shri Aravind Kumar H. Nair and State Information Commissioner Shri Atmaram R. Barve, at Kamat Towers, Patto Plaza, Panaji, Goa 403001, telephone 0832-2437880, email [email protected]. But that is the exception, not the rule, for PAN status.

A well-drafted PAN RTI asks specific, datable questions. Vague questions invite vague replies. The five standard questions, adapted from the parent RTI for PAN card status guide, are:

1. The present status of PAN application or correction number, as recorded in the system on the date this application is received.
2. The exact date the application, documents and fee were received by the Income Tax Department or its authorised agency, and the date they were forwarded for processing.
3. The specific stage at which the application is pending, and the reason for any delay beyond the normal processing time.
4. The name, designation and office address of the officer or official currently handling the application.
5. The expected date of dispatch of the physical or e-PAN card, and the speed-post tracking number once dispatched.

Do not ask “why is my PAN not done”, which the CPIO can answer with a boilerplate line. Ask for dates, names and the next action. Each question forces a specific record entry, and that is what makes the reply usable.

1. Filing with the Goa State Information Commission for a PAN delay. The GSIC cannot help, because PAN is a Central record. File with CBDT through rtionline.gov.in.
2. Addressing the application to NSDL or UTIITSL as the PIO. These are authorised agents of the Income Tax Department, not public authorities in themselves. Address CBDT.
3. Paying the Goa state fee of Rs. 10 by an IPO in favour of a Goa officer. The amount is the same, but the IPO must favour the Accounts Officer of CBDT or the Income Tax authority, not a state officer.
4. Forgetting to attach the PAN acknowledgement number. Without the 15-digit number the CPIO cannot locate your file and will ask for it, wasting a fortnight.
5. Counting 30 days from the date of mailing. The clock runs from receipt. Online filing removes this ambiguity.
6. Skipping the First Appeal. A Second Appeal to the CIC will be returned if the FAA was not given a chance.
7. Asking for an opinion or a recommendation (“should my PAN be approved?”). The RTI Act gives access to records, not opinions. Ask for the file status, dates and officer's name.

A real-life composite will make this concrete.

The following is a composite illustration built from common PAN-grievance patterns. The names and dates are representative, not a verified case, and the figures are illustrative.

A freelance graphic designer in Margao applied online for a correction to her PAN, to update her surname after marriage, on 12 January 2026. She paid the fee through Protean and received acknowledgement number N-1234567890123. By the first week of March, the online tracker still read “under process at Income Tax Department”. She emailed the Protean helpline twice and got only auto-replies.

On 14 March 2026, she filed an RTI through rtionline.gov.in, selecting Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, CBDT. Her five questions tracked the standard template. The Rs. 10 fee went through UPI. The application was received and registered the same day.

On 9 April 2026, within the 30-day window, the CPIO replied. The reply gave the date the Income Tax Department received the file (18 January), the reason for the hold (the marriage certificate copy was below the minimum file size and could not be read), the name of the assessing officer, and a fresh dispatch date of 20 April 2026. She re-uploaded a clearer certificate, and the corrected PAN reached her Panaji address on 26 April 2026.

The whole episode, from RTI to dispatch, took under a month. The RTI did not “approve” the PAN, it forced the Department to put on record what was wrong, which is what unblocked it. That is the typical pattern. You can sketch your own timeline with the RTI Timeline Calculator and draft the five questions with the AI RTI Drafter.

To,
The Central Public Information Officer,
Central Board of Direct Taxes,
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance,
Government of India.

Subject: Application under section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act 2005 - status of PAN application/correction no. N-1234567890123

Sir or Madam,

I am a citizen of India residing at [full address, Goa], and I seek the following information under section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act 2005 in respect of my PAN correction application no. N-1234567890123 dated 12 January 2026:

1. The present status of my PAN application or correction number N-1234567890123, as recorded in the system on the date this application is received.
2. The exact date on which the application, supporting documents and prescribed fee were received by the Income Tax Department or its authorised agency, and the date on which they were forwarded for processing.
3. The specific stage at which the application is currently pending and the reason for any delay beyond the normal processing time.
4. The name, designation and office address of the officer or official currently handling the application.
5. The expected date by which the physical PAN card or e-PAN will be dispatched and the speed-post tracking number once dispatched.

I state that the information sought is not exempt under section 8 or 9 of the Act. The application fee of Rs. 10 is paid online through rtionline.gov.in vide registration no. [number] (or, by post, Indian Postal Order no. X dated Y for Rs. 10 favouring the Accounts Officer). Kindly furnish the information within 30 days as required by section 7(1) of the Act.

Place: [Panaji, Margao, Vasco, etc.], Goa
Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]

[Name]
[Full postal address, Goa]
[Mobile] [Email]

No, not for a PAN status or delay. The Goa State Information Commission at Panaji has jurisdiction only over Goa state public authorities. A PAN card is issued by CBDT, a Central Public Authority, so the application, First Appeal and Second Appeal all travel through the Central RTI system, rtionline.gov.in and the Central Information Commission. The GSIC becomes relevant only if a Goa state body misused your PAN.

No state portal is needed. Because PAN is Central, you use the national portal rtionline.gov.in. The portal's home page explicitly states that it serves Central Public Authorities and that applications for state authorities will be returned without refund. CBDT is Central, so the national portal is the correct one for any Goan filing a PAN RTI. See the State portals directory for which states do run their own portals for purely state matters.

Rs. 10, payable online through net banking, an SBI debit card, a Visa or Mastercard, or UPI, or offline through an Indian Postal Order or demand draft. This is set by the Central RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules 2005, because CBDT is a Central authority. BPL applicants are exempt under RTI Rules 2012. Compare across states on the RTI fees by state page.

Speed Post from Panaji, Margao or Vasco to Delhi or Mumbai usually takes three to five working days. The 30-day reply clock runs from the date the authority receives the envelope, not the date you mailed it, so always keep the India Post tracking number. Online filing via rtionline.gov.in removes this transit delay entirely, which is why it is the recommended route from Goa.

Yes. There is no time limit for filing an RTI application. File today with CBDT through rtionline.gov.in asking the five standard questions. The CPIO must reply within 30 days. If the delay is because documents are missing or a name mismatch was flagged, the reply will tell you, and you can fix it. If the delay is unreasonable, the reply itself becomes evidence for your First Appeal and CPGRAMS complaint.

CBDT. The acknowledgement number on your correction receipt (N-prefix from Protean, 9-prefix from UTIITSL) is the key reference. File through rtionline.gov.in selecting Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, CBDT. If you prefer post, address the CPIO at the Income Tax office serving your Goa ward and quote the acknowledgement number.

The RTI Act allows an application in English or Hindi, or in the language of the area. For a Central public authority such as CBDT, English or Hindi is safest so that the file is not held up for translation. rtionline.gov.in accepts English and Hindi. The Goa State Information Commission accepts English, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani (its home page offers these four languages), but that applies to state matters, not PAN.

No. Under RTI Rules 2012, a Below Poverty Line applicant is exempt from the application fee. Attach a copy of your BPL certificate or ration card. On rtionline.gov.in there is a BPL declaration option, and the FAQ confirms the exemption.

It depends. Section 6(3) of the RTI Act allows a CPIO to transfer an application to the correct public authority within five days. But NSDL (Protean) and UTIITSL are not public authorities in themselves, they are agents of the Income Tax Department. If the CPIO simply tells you to “contact NSDL”, that is not a proper reply under section 7(1). Treat it as a deemed refusal and file a First Appeal. The Information you want, the allotment record, is held by CBDT.

Yes, and you should. Question four of the standard template asks for the name, designation and office of the officer handling your file. The CPIO is required to give this. Knowing the officer's name and designation is what makes a First Appeal or a CPGRAMS complaint specific and effective.

The CIC lists second appeals in a cause list and hears them in order. You can check your case status on cic.gov.in. If the wait is long, a parallel CPGRAMS grievance and a representation to your MP or the Department of Revenue can keep pressure on. You cannot file another RTI to speed up the CIC itself, but you can complain to the CIC under section 18 if there has been no designated CPIO at all.

No. The RTI Act 2005, section 6(2), says an applicant need not give any reason for requesting information, and the Act contains no penalty against an applicant. Filing an RTI does not flag your tax file, slow your refunds, or affect future PAN services. Hundreds of thousands of Indians file RTIs about tax and PAN matters every year without consequence.

You can draft the application free with the AI RTI Drafter, build the First Appeal with the First Appeal Drafter, and voice-file an assisted application through Awaaz RTI if typing is hard. The parent guide RTI for PAN card status has the full national template and case law, and the how to file RTI online page walks through the rtionline portal screen by screen.

• RTI for PAN card status - the full all-India template, decision tree and case law
• RTI for PAN card status across all states
• All RTI guides for Goa
• RTI for delayed income tax refund
• RTI for Aadhaar update and correction
• RTI for delayed passport
• RTI for GST refund status
• RTI for EPF claim status
• State RTI portals directory
• RTI fees by state
• The RTI Act 2005 and landmark RTI cases

• Right to Information Act 2005, sections 6(1), 6(2), 6(3), 7(1), 18, 19(1), 19(3). See the Act on this site.
• RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules 2005 and RTI Rules 2012 (BPL exemption, copy charges, disk charges).
• Central RTI Online portal, Department of Personnel and Training: rtionline.gov.in and its FAQ at rtionline.gov.in/faq.php.
• Central Information Commission: cic.gov.in (constituted 12 October 2005; jurisdiction over all Central Public Authorities; Second Appeal portal integrated with rtionline).
• Goa State Information Commission: gsic.goa.gov.in, Kamat Towers, Patto Plaza, Patto Centre, Panaji, Goa 403001, phone 0832-2437880, email [email protected].
• Government of Goa, Right to Information page: goa.gov.in/right-to-information.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Income Tax Department, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
• Protean eGov Technologies PAN Services: protean-tinpan.com (authorised by the Income Tax Department).
• TIN-NSDL PAN page: tin-nsdl.com PAN services (Form 49A for citizens, Form 49AA for foreign citizens, in force since 8 April 2012).
• UTIITSL PAN services: utiitsl.com.

Last reviewed: 18 July 2026.