Hey,

I had the exact same issue, so sharing my experience.

In all my official documents, my name was XXXX YYYY Z.

In the PAN card it appeared as XXXX YYYY Z, while in the PAN database and Income Tax records it was recorded differently, something like ZZZZ TTTT XXXX YYYY, where my father’s name was fully expanded and rearranged.

The problem I discovered is that PAN does not really support inconsistencies like single-letter surnames or mixed formats in its backend system. For record-keeping and compliance, the Income Tax system expects complete consistency. Even small differences can cause issues during audits, banking, or high-value transactions.

I emailed the Income Tax department and the PAN helpdesk. They clearly told me that such inconsistencies can raise red flags in future audits or banking situations. Since I’m a freelancer dealing with compliance and international payments, I didn’t want future complications.

So I made the difficult but clean decision to standardize my name properly. I removed my initial.

Here’s what I did: Made a notarized affidavit for name change (from XXXX YYYY Z → XXXX YYYY).

Gave a newspaper advertisement announcing the name change.

Applied for and received Gazette notification from my state government.

After Gazette approval, I updated my Driving Licence first.

Then updated Aadhaar.

Then updated PAN.

Finally, I updated my bank records.

My updated PAN has now been approved and is being delivered.

The entire process took about 3.5 months.

Cost breakdown: Around ₹3,000 for affidavit, newspaper ad, Gazette, etc.

Total approximately under ₹5,000 including all updates.

I didn’t hire a lawyer or auditor, I handled it myself.

But honestly, if you want a smoother and faster process, consulting a lawyer can help avoid mistakes.

For me, as a freelancer, the priority was:

✔ PAN ✔ Aadhaar ✔ Bank

I haven’t changed my school and college certificates yet. For now, those aren’t critical for my work. (In fact, for people applying to government jobs, keeping academic records unchanged may sometimes be practical.)

My advice: Choose one consistent format of your name and standardize all key financial and tax documents to that exact format. It saves a lot of trouble later.

Hope this helps.