Do I need an Indian PAN if I only own property there?
The identifier is needed for a good deal more than filing a return. It is the key that makes deduction credit, treaty claims and the electronic filings work, and property is one of the common reasons it becomes urgent, because tax deducted on a transaction has to be credited to somebody and without an identifier there is nobody for it to be credited to. So a resident whose only Indian connection is a property still reaches the application, usually at the point of letting or sale rather than at purchase. Leaving it until the closing table is where the delay happens.
Who uses Form 49A rather than the non-resident application?
Form 49A is the resident applicant's route to an Indian permanent account number, so the question is settled by status rather than by what you need the number for. A resident applying for filing, banking, property or investment purposes uses this form; a non-resident applicant does not. Where people go wrong is applying on the basis of citizenship, or of where they were born. The status that matters is the one the Indian rules give you for the relevant period, and it can change while an application is in progress, which is a reason to establish it before the form is prepared rather than after.
Can I file an Indian return while my PAN application is pending?
Not in the ordinary way, and that is why the application sits at the front of an Indian engagement rather than somewhere in the middle. The electronic filings, the credit for tax deducted on your income and any treaty claim all attach to the identifier, so until it exists there is nothing for them to attach to. The practical consequence is sequencing. Where a deadline or a transaction date is fixed, the application becomes the first piece of work and everything else is planned around when the number is expected, rather than the other way round.
What holds up a PAN application most often?
A mismatch between the name and date of birth on the application and the identity and address documents supporting it: a middle name on one and not the other, a document in a married name, a transliterated spelling that varies from paper to paper. The identifier is meant to be unique to a person, so the checks are on identity rather than on tax, and small inconsistencies are what get an application returned. We settle on one spelling of the name, supported by the documents that will actually be produced, before anything is submitted, and where a document has to be corrected first, we do that first.
Does one person need more than one PAN for different kinds of income?
No. The number identifies the person, not the activity, and holding more than one is a problem rather than a convenience. This comes up when somebody applied once in the past, forgot, and applies again because the earlier number cannot be found. The right first step is to establish whether a number already exists in your name, because an accidental second one has to be surrendered, the record consolidated, and the filings made under both reconciled with each other. That is a considerably longer job than retrieving the original would have been.
My spouse and I hold everything jointly, do we each apply?
Yes, if each of you needs the identifier in your own right. It belongs to a person, so joint ownership of an account or a property does not produce a joint number: each owner who has income, a deduction to be credited or a filing obligation applies separately. That matters for the deduction on a jointly held asset, which has to be credited to the owners in the shares their income actually follows. Where only one spouse has applied, the other's share of the deduction usually has nowhere to go until the second application is through.
Does my foreign spouse have to pay US tax?
Not unless something connects them to the US system: they are a citizen or green card holder, they meet the substantial presence test, they have US-source income, or you elect to treat them as a US resident so you can file jointly. That election is the one people make without weighing it, because it reaches their foreign salary, their foreign investments and their foreign accounts, not just their name on the form. See a US person with a non-resident spouse.
Does foreign employment income create RRSP room?
Only where it is earned income reported on a Canadian return. RRSP room is built from earned income that Canada sees, so a non-resident year of foreign salary generally builds none, and foreign tax paid does not create room of its own. This is why people returning to Canada after years abroad find their contribution room much smaller than the years elapsed suggest, and why the notice of assessment is the only reliable statement of it. See returning to Canada after years abroad.
