PAN, Aadhaar, passport, driving license of deceased: Here's what you need to know

Nowadays, almost all of us have multiple documents such as PAN, Aadhaar, passport, voter card and driving license. During one’s lifetime, these documents are crucial and are needed for documentation purposes.

But what happen after the demise of the holder? What should the family members do with these documents that could easily be misused to grave consequences.

PAN card

PAN card is mandatory for all types of financial transactions, filing income tax returns, any type of investment, investing in shares and mutual funds and other important things.

In case of filing ITRs, the PAN must be held till the tax return has been filed and processed by the I-T department. If any income tax refund is due to the deceased, then ensure that such amount has been credited into his/her bank account, so one must keep the PAN after some time even after the death.

How does one surrender the PAN card?

 To do so, the representative or the legal heir needs to write an application to the assessing officer (AO) of income tax under whose jurisdiction the PAN is registered. The letter should contain reasons for surrendering i.e., death of the holder, name, PAN and date of birth of deceased, along with a copy of his/her death certificate.

Aadhaar card

Aadhaar number serves as the proof of identity and proof of address. It is mandatory to quote Aadhaar number almost everywhere now a days. From LPG subsidy to Covid vaccination, for getting any government benefit such as ration or sponsored schemes citing Aadhaar is mandatory.

After the demise of a person Aadhaar number continues to exist. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the body governing Aadhaar, is not yet linked with death registries across states and hence Aadhaar is not automatically updated to reflect demise of a person as of now.

UIDAI does not have any process of deactivating or cancelling the Aadhaar card of the deceased person and there is no provision to even update information about a holder’s death in the Aadhaar database.

But locking of biometric credentials of deceased person’s credentials can be done on UIDAI’s website currently.

Passport

There is no provision for surrender the passport upon demise of a person. There is also no procedure for intimating the requisite authorities. However, once the passport has expired after the due date, it becomes invalid naturally.

So, no special intimation is needed for the passport of a deceased person.

Voter ID card

There is a provision under Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, for cancellation of voter ID card upon demise of the person concerned.

The legal heir has to fill up form number 7 under the electoral rules and submit it along with death certificate for cancellation of a person’s name from voters list.

It would take some time to complete the process.

Driving licence

There is no provision to surrender or cancel a driving license of a deceased person.

Nothing is clearly spelt out as to what should be done with the license. It is advisable to follow the state-specific regulations in this respect. One can visit the concerned RTO office for the cancellation of the license.

Important points

After a person’s demise it is not mandatory to cancel all the documents but these should be kept safely by the members of the family.

It is advisable to inform the required officials and follow their guidance. Always remember, these documents can be misused by miscreants and can land the family members in trouble.