It is mandatory under Rule 114B of the Income Tax Rules to quote PAN where the transactions exceed a specified limit.
To bring a balance between burden of compliance on legitimate transactions and the need to capture information relating to transactions of higher value, the Government has amended Rule 114B to enhance the monetary limits of certain transactions and introduce new categories of transactions which require quoting of PAN.
The changes made to the Rules have been notified through S.O. No. 3545(E) dated 30th December, 2015. These changes have taken effect from 1st January, 2016.
CBDT has issued a press release highlighting the key changes to requirements for quoting PAN for different categories of transactions.