Big Income tax warning against online fraud: Don't Share this on social media

In the age of social media and digital world, we have developed a habit of sharing our personal pictures, videos and documents online. However, doing this can put you in trouble as the Income Tax department has warned all holders of Permanent Account Number to not share their ten-digit alphanumeric PAN publicly on social media. The department said that sharing such personal data can lead to its misuse or frauds.

A lot of taxpayers have been asking questions and raising concerns relating to processing of income tax returns, ITR refunds, etc on Twitter. Therefore the I-T department's social media team keeps on warning all such taxpayers or assesses who mention their PAN in the tweets.

"...May we also request you not to share personal details like PAN on social media to avoid it being misused!,'' wrote IT dept on Twitter while answering to one of the complaints.

Sharing of personal data, including PAN, can lead to cases of identity theft where miscreants can make transactions in your name without your knowledge.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has also similarly asked Aadhaar card holders to not share their 12-digit identity number in public as it is personally sensitive information. Aadhaar is also linked not only to your PAN card but also with bank accounts and even passport.

To all those who want to ask tax-related questions, the income tax department has come out with an online query form where one can ask questions and get it answered directly from the I-T department officials. In the form, you need to provide your name, PAN, assessment year for which the issue is reported, mobile number, email id, your detailed query and social media user id.

Though the form is meant to answer queries related to e-filing of ITR, processing and claiming tax refund. After filling up the form, income tax department answers all your queries or address in a short span of time.