Invalid Surname Error & First Name Error At Income Tax e-Filing Registration – Solution

“Invalid Surname. Please retry.”!! Encountered this error while registering for Income Tax e-filing? Read on.
Are you filing your returns online for the first time through e-filing at incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in? The first and basic step to file your return online is to register at the Income Tax India eFiling website. But are you getting any of these errors on the website when you are trying to register at the e-Filing portal of the Income Tax Department?

“Invalid Surname. Please retry.”
“Invalid First Name. Please retry.”

Invalid Surname Error e-filing Registration PAN

Basically these errors occur due to mismatch the Surname that you registered your PAN card with and the Surname you are trying to enter in the eFiling portal. Surname, First Name and Middle Name system in the western countries is different from the naming convention of the Indian system. However, most of the websites including many government portals follow the western naming convention and we have to accept that it is a bit confusing for some Indians if not all. Even the naming system or convention varies across different states of India. So considering all these, it could very well happen that the lot of people while filling the PAN registration form, swap Surname with First Name and vice-versa. This factor we have to keep in mind when your register for the first time at the Income Tax India e-Filing portal.  Adding salt to injury, the PAN card prints Surname and First Name without any indication of which is first name and which is your Surname (However, generally your Surname is printed first followed by your First Name). The problem gets more complex if you have multiple words in your name. Isn’t it? Now when you try to register yourself for the e-filing portal, the website tries to check the Surname and First Name that you entered there with that of in the PAN database. Any mismatch would end up with the above mentioned errors.

However, luckily there’s a workaround for this issue. If you observe closely at the e-Filing website, the mandatory fields are: PAN, Surname and Date of Birth (DOB). Now let’s go back to your PAN card. Note down your PAN number. It is basically a 10 character alpha-numeric identifier. The first five characters are alphabets while the next four are numerals and the last character is again an alphabet. First three characters are sequence of alphabets from AAA to ZZZ and the fourth is type/status of your card (P for Individual, C for Company etc). The most relevant part about your PAN number that we are concerned now is the fifth character which denotes the first letter of your Surname.  This gives you the clue about what Surname you might have entered while registering for the PAN card. Entering this Surname would make the validation process to succeed. Along with this, provided you have entered the correct PAN and DOB, you can proceed with the further registration process. Let’s see an example to understand.

Suppose your PAN card number is: AXXPNXXXXG, the fifth character i.e, N in this case will be the first letter of your surname.

PAN 5th Character Surname

Hope this helps you solve the ‘Invalid Surname error’. Now that you have just started registering yourself at the Income Tax India E-Filing portal, read our guide on E-Filing: How to File your Income Tax Return & on how to link Aadhaar with PAN.

60 thoughts on “Invalid Surname Error & First Name Error At Income Tax e-Filing Registration – Solution”

    • This information is very useful however I have First name and I am getting error in surname as well as in first name where first name is showing invalidate..
      What should I do?

      Reply
  1. MY NAME ENTERED IN THE CARD IS: A V KISHORE VENKATACHALAM
    MY FIFTH LETTER IS K WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO ENTER UNDER SURNAME AND FIRST NAME?

    Reply
  2. Still unable to update shows as invalid surname even I entered correct only according to pan card
    My surname is s and first name is syed

    Reply
    • Surname on PAN card doesnt necessarily mean the same surname on NSDL database; you need to call NSDL to find out the spelling of the surname on income tax database. You can get contact number of NSDL on the income tax eFiling website.

      I had the same issue and tried to contact NSDL but they are not working currently due to Corona crisis so I tried a different way of doing it. I downloaded my form 26AS from my net banking login and saw how my surname was spelled as per form 26AS and that was the exact spelling of my surname on NSDL database i.e. the data base of the income tax efiling website. Once I typed my surname exactly as per Form 26AS I was able to register on the e-Filing website. Of course, my surname was spelled wrongly on Form 26AS and I have now lodged a grievance with NSDL to rectify the spelling of my surname on the e-Filing website.

      Just thought I will post this as Form 26AS will exactly show how your name is spelled on NSDL or e-Filing database

      Reply
  3. Good information saved my time as well , One thing i wanted to mention here is

    I had FirstName Middle LastName , i was not able to login using the LastName after reading this Artcle i tried with my Middle it dint work either but what worked in “Middle LastName” for the surname.

    Reply
    • Hello hi!
      I have a problem regarding my pan card numer
      Actually my name is
      G. Pavan Kalyan
      But fifth letter of my pan number is P not G
      What should i do now?
      Because of that i couldn’t open a bank account using that pan number!
      Please

      Reply
  4. I cant registered in e filing because surname not matching

    my full name is NAGENDRA PRASAD S
    can you please tell me
    which is 1st name and which is surname???

    Reply
  5. My Name is Dinker RK. In My Pan Card its like Dinker Rajendran Nair Kususmam. i need to Put like Dinker RK(Like my other records adhar, Ration Card , Voters ID , Certificate Etc). Is it possible ?

    Reply
  6. Hi I am trying to register it and it shows first name is wrong.
    My
    First Name: SELVI
    SureName: ARANGANATHAN

    my 5th letter is S

    Help me to sort out this

    Reply
  7. Useful Info. Thanks !

    The name printed on my card is something like AXXXXX BXXXXX, where the first word is actually my first name and second word being the last name. The 5th letter of my PAN is ‘A’

    So I tried AXXXXX in surname field and BXXXXX in the last name field. But that didn’t work.

    Finally it worked when I tried AXXXXX BXXXXX in the surname field and left the first name and middle name blank.

    Reply
  8. Unable to register…Name : K Mounika
    Suraname : K
    As per PAN 5th letter also K
    But still unable to register.
    Please guide

    Reply
  9. I also faced this same problem. I filled my name as surname but my issue didn’t solved. Then I called to PAN card customer supporter & I got details which I filled to get pan card so my problem had solved.

    Reply
  10. Fifth Letter will be Your Surname – TRY Possible options like example :- AZXXVXXXXH then it should be surname : Vipin or Vipin Das AS PER YOUR PAN

    Reply
  11. Hi
    My name on PAN card is printed as MARIA JAYASREE J
    5th letter of PAN is J. I tried with JAYASREE, J, abbreviation of J as surname in ITR registration but none of them is working and accepted.
    Still throwing error that surname is invalid

    Reply
  12. Go to e-nivaran link -> Select “Submit Grievance” -> Enter “PAN Number” and Click on “Submit” -> Click on ” No Thanks and Continue without Registering” -> Click on “Grievance”

    Post the above steps a page will appear where you will get to know your surname and it worked for me

    Reply
  13. Sir, my name is SAKTHIVEL, my father name is KANAGARAJ. As of my full name is ” Sakthivel KANAGARAJ” . But In my pan card 5th letter is ‘S’ my first and last name in misplaced in income tax database. How to change it , is this make any problem seriously?
    Can I able to change the Name? Does the pan number change if I change my name

    Reply

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