new delhi the next time you buy an insurance policy or open a post office savings account your may have to quote your pan number compulsorily taking forward its budget announcement the government has kicked off interministerial consultations in this regardin line with finance minister p chidambarams budget 200809 announcement the finance ministry has sought views of the concerned departments banking insurance and postal on making permanent account number pan mandatory for these instruments at present large number instruments such as bank account insurance products financial instruments sold by postal department like national savings certificate indira vikas patra do not require quoting of pantransactions like sale and purchase of immovable property or motor vehicle or payments in cash of amounts exceeding rs 25000 to hotels and restaurants or in connection with travel to any foreign country require quoting of pan a 10digit alphanumeric taxpayer identification number it is also mandatory to mention pan for obtaining a telephone or mobile phone connection likewise pan has to be mentioned for making a time deposit exceeding rs 50000 with a bank or post office or depositing cash of rs 50000 or more in a bank quoting of pan was made mandatory for demat accounts two years ago it was made mandatory for mutual funds after the budget 200708as indicated by the finance minister suitable threshold limits would be provided for quoting of pan especially for postal savings instruments because of their popularity in rural areas tax authorities have been pushing for expanding the scope of instruments where quoting of pan is mandatory for sometime as it allows them to establish an audit trail data declared by the taxpayer in his or her income tax return can be tallied with the information about investments made from various organisations using the pan