ITR Acknowledgement PDF
Password Explained

What is the ITR-V password?

When you download your ITR-V (the acknowledgement of your filed income tax return) from the income tax e-Filing portal, the PDF opens only after you enter a password. The Income Tax Department sets this automatically — you never chose it — using a fixed formula built from details it already has on file.

Break it into two parts and it becomes obvious:

• PAN in lowercase — all ten characters, letters in small case. So ABCDE1234F becomes abcde1234f.
• Date of birth — written as day, month, then four-digit year, each padded to two digits: DDMMYYYY.

Worked examples

These make the formula stick:

Notice the leading zeros: 7 August is 0708, not 78. This single detail causes most "password not working" complaints.

Every variation that trips people up

The core rule is stable, but a few situations change the inputs:

• Firms, companies and trusts — there is no individual DOB, so the date used is the date of incorporation or formation in the same DDMMYYYY format, still with the PAN in lowercase.
• Case sensitivity — the letters must be lowercase. Typing ABCDE1234F07081990 in capitals fails on most PDF readers.
• Two-digit vs four-digit year — always use the full four-digit year (1990, not 90).
• DOB mismatch — the date must match exactly what is registered with your PAN, not necessarily what is on another ID. If your PAN record has a different date, use the PAN record's date.
• Spaces or symbols — never add a space, slash or dash. It is one continuous string.

Some older bank and financial statement PDFs reuse a similar logic (PAN plus DOB, or an account number plus DOB), so the same habits help beyond the ITR-V.

How to open your ITR-V

Any PDF reader works — Adobe Acrobat, your browser's built-in viewer, or your phone's PDF app. Open the file, type the password using the formula above, and it unlocks for that session.

What if you forgot your PAN or DOB?

Both are recoverable:

• PAN — check any old ITR, Form 16, your PAN card, or the "Know Your PAN" facility on the income tax portal after logging in.
• Date of birth as registered — log in to the e-Filing portal and view your profile; the DOB shown there is the one used to build the password. If it looks wrong, correct it through the PAN update process, then re-download the ITR-V.

How to remove the password permanently

Entering the password every single time is tedious, and it is a hassle for your Chartered Accountant who has to key in your PAN and DOB just to open the file. You can create a clean, password-free copy in seconds with LovelyPDF's Remove Password tool — and because it runs in your browser, your financial data never touches a server.

1. Open Remove Password on LovelyPDF
2. Upload your locked ITR-V PDF
3. Enter the PAN-plus-DOB password once when prompted
4. Click to unlock, then download the password-free copy
5. Optionally run it through Compress PDF if you need to email or upload it

Sharing safely with your CA

An unlocked ITR-V is convenient but still holds your PAN, income figures and personal details. Send it over a channel you trust — a direct email to your CA, or an encrypted drive link — rather than a public WhatsApp group. If you only need to prove a figure and not the full return, consider sharing a single page using Split PDF instead of the whole document.