PAN is compulsory of Landlord if rent paid above 1 Lakh.

The Income Tax Department clarify regarding Quoting of PAN number of landlord is must when the salaried Employee (Taxpayee) claming rent exemption from Income Tax, amount of Rs. 100000 annualy or monthly Rs. 8334 or more in a current financial year under "House rent allowance" tax benefits.

The Salaried Employee (Taxpayee) when claiming Tax exemption from Gross Income with respect to House Rent Allowance received from the Employer is now required to report compulsory the PAN of the landlord to the employer, if the rent paid by the employee to the landlord exceeds Rs 1 lakh per annum or monthly Rs. 8334, along with the rent receipt, said Minister of Sate for Finance J D Seelam in a written statement in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

He quoted a circular by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on the matter of deduction of tax at source during the payment of salaries.

"In case the landlord does not have a PAN, a declaration to this effect from the landlord along with the name and address of the landlord should be filed by the employees," he added.

In a separate response, Seelam said the number of tax assesses have increased manifold. In the past 15 years, the number of effective IT assesses has increased by more than three times from 1.16 crore as on March 1997 to 3.63 crore at the end of March 2012.

He also said 42,800 persons other than companies admitted to a taxable income exceeding Rs 1 crore.

"The Cabinet has approved the cadre restructuring of the Income Tax Department in May 2013. The implementation of the same is under progress," he said.

Additional 1,080 assessment units to be manned by around 20,000 more personnel have been created to meet the increasing number of IT assesses, he said.