What is the password for the e-PAN PDF?

Your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format, with no slashes or spaces. Born on 7 April 1992? The password is 07041992. Companies and firms use their date of incorporation instead.

What is the password for AIS, TIS and ITR-V PDFs?

Your PAN in small letters followed by your date of birth as DDMMYYYY. PAN ABCDE1234F and birth date 21 January 1991 give abcde1234f21011991.

Why does my Form 16 password not work?

Form 16 is sent by your employer, and employers do not all use the same format. Check the email that came with the PDF first, then try the PAN plus date of birth combinations in the table.

Is it safe to remove the password from tax documents?

It is fine for your own use, but an unlocked copy can be opened by anyone who gets it. Keep it in a private folder, and add a new password before you email it.

e-PAN, Form 16, 26AS, AIS and ITR-V PDF Passwords Explained

Password formats for e-PAN, Form 16, Form 26AS, AIS/TIS and ITR-V PDFs, with examples, where sources disagree, and how to save an unlocked copy safely.

Most income tax PDFs open with your PAN in small letters plus your date of birth as DDMMYYYY (for example abcde1234f21011991). This covers AIS, TIS and ITR-V. The e-PAN is different: it opens with only your date of birth (21011991). Form 16 depends on your employer, so check the email it came with.

Once you know the password, Unlock PDF saves a copy without it so you can upload or print it easily. It runs in your browser, so your tax documents are never uploaded.

Checked on 15 October 2026. Departments and employers can change these formats. If the portal or email shows a different hint, follow the hint.

Password formats at a glance

Document	Where it comes from	Password format	Example (PAN ABCDE1234F, born 21 Jan 1991)	Source
e-PAN	Income Tax portal (Instant e-PAN), Protean (NSDL), UTIITSL	Date of birth, DDMMYYYY	`21011991`	Protean, Motilal Oswal
AIS and TIS	Income Tax e-filing portal	PAN in lower case + DOB as DDMMYYYY	`abcde1234f21011991`	Income Tax Dept., TaxBuddy
ITR-V / ITR acknowledgement	Income Tax e-filing portal	PAN in lower case + DOB as DDMMYYYY	`abcde1234f21011991`	ClearTax
Intimation u/s 143(1), 139(9) notice, 154 order	Income Tax e-filing portal	PAN in lower case + DOB as DDMMYYYY	`abcde1234f21011991`	EZTax
Form 26AS	TRACES (via the e-filing portal)	DOB as DDMMYYYY, when a password is asked	`21011991`	TaxGuru, EZTax
Form 16	Your employer	Varies by employer (see below)	Often `ABCDE21011991` or `abcde1234f21011991`	ClearTax, Tax2win

For companies, firms and trusts, use the date of incorporation or formation wherever the table says date of birth.

e-PAN: date of birth only

The e-PAN PDF you download from the Income Tax portal’s Instant e-PAN service, from Protean (formerly NSDL) or from UTIITSL opens with your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. That means eight digits, no slashes, no spaces.

Born 7 April 1992 → 07041992
Born 15 August 1990 → 15081990

Always use two digits for the day and the month. 7041992 (seven digits) will fail.

AIS, TIS and ITR-V: PAN in small letters + date of birth

The Income Tax Department’s AIS help says to type your full 10-character PAN in lower case, then your date of birth as DDMMYYYY, with no space between them. TIS and the ITR-V acknowledgement use the same pattern, and so do most notices and intimations from the e-filing portal.

PAN AAAAA1234A, born 21 January 1991 → aaaaa1234a21011991

The most common mistake is typing the PAN in capitals. These passwords are case-sensitive, so AAAAA1234A21011991 will not open the file.

Where sources disagree: a few blogs say the AIS password is the PAN in capitals followed by your birth year only. The Income Tax Department’s own help and most tax sites give the lower-case PAN plus full DDMMYYYY format, so try that first.

Form 26AS: sources disagree

Form 26AS is generated on TRACES, which you reach through the e-filing portal. Two reliable tax sites describe it differently:

TaxGuru says the password is your date of birth as DDMMYYYY.
EZTax says the PDF, HTML and Excel exports have no password, and only the text file download uses the DDMMYYYY date of birth.

Safest approach: if your 26AS asks for a password, enter your date of birth as DDMMYYYY. If it opens without a password, nothing is wrong. Both behaviours have been reported.

Form 16: depends on your employer

Your employer sends your Form 16, so the password is whatever the employer or their payroll software set. Formats reported by ClearTax and Tax2win include:

Try this	Example
First 5 letters of PAN (capitals) + DOB DDMMYYYY	`ABCDE21011991`
First 5 letters of PAN (small letters) + DOB DDMMYYYY	`abcde21011991`
Full PAN in small letters + DOB DDMMYYYY	`abcde1234f21011991`
Full PAN in capitals + DOB DDMMYYYY	`ABCDE1234F21011991`

Check the email that came with the PDF first. Most HR and payroll emails state the password format in the message body, often in small text at the bottom. If it is not there, ask your HR or payroll team. Guessing many times will not lock the file, but it wastes time.

Why your password might not work

Wrong case. Income tax portal files want the PAN in small letters. Check that Caps Lock is off on a laptop.
Wrong date format. Use DDMMYYYY: day first, then month, then the full four-digit year.
Spaces or symbols. Don’t type /, - or spaces.
Wrong date of birth. Use the date in the Income Tax Department’s records, which can differ from the date on other documents.
Corrupted download. If no password works, download the file again from the portal.

How to remove the password (and when not to)

Open Unlock PDF in Chrome, Safari or any modern browser.
Add your e-PAN, AIS, 26AS, Form 16 or ITR-V file.
Type the password from the table above.
Download the unlocked copy.

The file is processed on your own phone or computer, not on a server. Here is how to check that for any PDF website.

An unlocked tax document shows your PAN, income and bank details to anyone who opens it. A few good habits:

Keep the original locked file and use the unlocked copy only where you need it.
Put a password back on with Protect PDF before you email it to a CA or a lender.
Black out what the other person doesn’t need, such as account numbers, with Redact PDF.