10 Most Common PDF Passwords: ITR, Aadhaar, PAN, GST

ITR-V, notices, Section 143(1) intimations, rectification orders — pretty much everything from the Income Tax Department uses this. The PAN must be in lowercase, DOB in DDMMYYYY, no spaces. This is the most common government PDF password you'll come across. Source: Income Tax e-filing portal instructions.

UIDAI keeps the e-Aadhaar locked with the first four letters of your name (uppercase) plus your birth year. Names shorter than 4 letters? Just use whatever you've got. "RIA" + 1990 = RIA1990. Names with initials like "P. Kumar"? The dot stays — P.KU1990. Source: UIDAI.

Simplest one on this list. Just your date of birth. Companies and LLPs use their date of incorporation instead. Nothing else needed.

Your employer sends you Form 16 showing tax deducted from your salary. The password takes the first five letters of your PAN in uppercase (not the full PAN, just the first five) followed by your DOB.

Form 26AS from TRACES uses only your date of birth. If you download it from the Income Tax portal directly, the HTML version doesn't even need a password. The PDF file from TRACES is where the password applies. Companies use their date of incorporation instead.

The Annual Information Statement and Taxpayer Information Summary show all your financial transactions in one place. The official example on incometaxindia.gov.in types the PAN exactly as printed, in uppercase. If that fails, try all lowercase — both formats are reported to work.

NPS monthly statements from Protean (NSDL) CRA use the first four letters of your first name in lowercase plus your DOB in DDMM — only day and month, no year. Short name? Add 9s. "Om" with 16 November becomes "99om1611".

Filed returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, GSTR-9) download as PDFs locked with your complete GSTIN, including uppercase letters. The registration certificate downloads only after logging into gst.gov.in. Forgot your GST login? Use the "Forgot Password" option on the portal. Source: GST portal.

This is where things get messy. Every bank has its own system.

The #1 mistake people make? HDFC uses your Customer ID for bank statements, not your DOB. If you're stuck, open the HDFC app and check your profile for the Customer ID.

Here's the thing — the downloaded EPFO passbook PDF is not password-protected. It opens directly. The UAN and login password are only needed to log into the portal and download the file. Once downloaded, just double-click and it opens.

Your TAN letter from the Income Tax Department uses your address PIN code. Simple but easy to forget if you've moved.

A format that worked last year can quietly stop working this year. Issuers change the software that generates statements when they migrate portals, merge systems or reissue documents — and the password convention rides on the generator, not on the document type. That is why a password you memorised for one issuer occasionally stops working even though you typed it perfectly. The current source of truth is always the email or SMS that arrived with the download, because it was written by the same system that locked the file. Guides like this one are point-in-time maps; the download-time hint is the live one.

When a locked document refuses to open, work the same ladder every time:

1. Confirm who issued it and where you downloaded it — portal, app, or email attachment

1. Try the documented format for that issuer, exactly — right case, right date order, no spaces

1. If it rejects, try the case variants and the DDMM / DDMMYYYY variants — four attempts, no more

1. Open the email or SMS that carried the file and search for the word "password"

1. Re-download the file on a stable connection

1. Open it in a different reader, or on a different device

1. Call the issuer with the download reference in hand

Four attempts, then switch strategies. Blind guessing past that wastes an evening, and the answer is almost always in the download email or on the issuer's own FAQ page. The general fixes guide takes over when the file itself, rather than the password, is the problem.

Ten formats is too many to memorise, so write them down once and stop re-deriving them every quarter. A small note on your phone works: one line per issuer — issuer name, the format pattern, and the date you last confirmed it worked. Update the line whenever an issuer changes something, and the next statement becomes a five-second job instead of a fifteen-minute hunt.

Getting stuck on a PDF password is frustrating. But once you know the pattern, it clicks. Most government documents use PAN + DOB, name + year, or just DOB. Bank statements are the wild card — each bank does its own thing. Bookmark this, save it, and you'll never waste time guessing passwords again.

This is for educational purposes only. Password formats can change. Check the respective bank/portal for the latest information.