How to get AIN number for Govt School TAN application

To get an AIN (Accounts Office Identification Number) for a Government School, you do not actually apply for it directly as a school. Instead, you must request it through your higher reporting authority, which is typically your District Treasury Office (DTO), Pay and Accounts Office (PAO), or Cheque Drawing and Disbursing Office (CDDO).

There is a common misunderstanding during the TAN application process: A Government School does not need its own AIN to get a TAN. The AIN belongs exclusively to the major government accounting office that handles your school’s treasury transactions.

Contact your district education department or the treasury office where your school’s budget/salary bills are cleared. Ask the senior accountant or accounts officer for their 7-digit AIN. They are legally required to have one because they use it to file Form 24G/Form 137 for all government departments mapped under them.

If your accounting office states they do not have an AIN, they must apply for it from the Income Tax Department using the following steps:

• Form Submission: The DTO/PAO/CDDO must download Form No. 136 (Application for Allotment of Accounts Office Identification Number) from the Income Tax Department website.
• Verification: The filled and physically signed form must be submitted to the local jurisdictional Commissioner of Income-tax (TDS).
• Allotment: The CIT (TDS) verifies the request and forwards it to the Protean (formerly NSDL eGov) office, which then issues the 7-digit AIN to that treasury department via email.

Once you obtain the 7-digit AIN from your mapping treasury department, you can proceed with the school’s TAN application:

• Go to the Protean TIN-NSDL Portal or the TRACES portal.
• Select the Government Category for the application.
• Input the 7-digit AIN in the specific field to link your school’s TAN back to the central treasury account.

• AIN (7 Digits): Held only by the central Government Accounts Office (DTO/PAO/CDDO) responsible for executing book-adjustments for taxes.
• TAN (10 Alphanumeric Characters): Held by your individual Government School (the Drawing and Disbursing Officer or DDO) to deduct and report TDS on employee salaries.