The Income Tax department has extended the date for linking the PAN and Aadhaar card for the purpose of income tax filling. The new due date is now March 31, 2020. According to reports, the
I-T department will charge a fine of Rs 10,000 in case of failure to link the PAN card with the Aadhaar card before the due date.
Here's what all you need to know:
If failed to link PAN-Aadhaar card:
If you fail to link PAN card with Aadhaar card before March 31, 2020, then the income tax department would charge Rs 10,000 fine and would suspend the PAN card as inoperative.
It must be noted that if the PAN becomes inoperative, it will be deemed that the PAN was not furnished or intimated wherever required. In such a case, the income tax department will mete out all the consequences of non-furnishing of PAN to the individual.
In the non-income tax filing scenario, people who fail to link PAN card with Aadhaar would be able to use it as ID proof for non-tax purposes like opening a bank account or for a driving licence. However, they may face trouble in several financial transactions like banking transactions, buying or selling of a property, investments in stocks and mutual funds.
Why due date extended
The date for linking PAN card with Aadhaar card had been extended earlier also. This is the eight-time that the Income-tax department has extended the due date for linking both the documents. The last due date for the link was on 31st of December 2019.
The reason for extending the due date is to give time to people who are facing hardships in rectifying the details in their PAN and Aadhaar card. Since the process of filling in the information about name and address in the Aadhar card is still done manually, extra time would give a little more period to those individuals who have to correct errors or mismatches in both the documents.
Besides, there has been some ambiguity around linking of Aadhaar with PAN card for the purpose of return filing especially after the Supreme Court decision which ruled that a PAN would continue to remain valid even if Aadhaar is not obtained and linked with PAN.
In that regard, the income tax department has notified that the PAN will become inoperative if not linked to Aadhaar within the specified due date.
The PAN, however, will become operative only after the date of intimation of Aadhaar number.
Who is required
According to Section 139AA that was inserted into the Income Tax Act vide Finance Act 2017, every person who had been allotted PAN as on 1 July 2017, and has received the Aadhaar number or Aadhar enrollment ID, must intimate the number to the tax authorities by linking PAN and Aadhaar.
Failing to link Aadhaar number with the PAN card for the purpose of filing income tax return would lead to the PAN being inoperative.
Steps to link your PAN card with your Aadhaar card online:
To link Aadhaar with PAN, the I-Tax department has listed several ways for the assessees. Visit the website — https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home
Step 1: Open the Income Tax e-filing portal (www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) and log in to your account (if you already have an a/c or create one).
Step 2: Select 'Profile Settings' and click on 'Link Aadhaar'
Step 3: Type your 12-digit 'Aadhaar Number' in the box and select 'Link Aadhaar'.
A pop-up message will appear saying "Aadhaar-PAN linking is completed successfully".
How to link PAN-Aadhaar via SMS
The Income Tax Department also provides an SMS-based facility to enable the linking.
Send an SMS to either 567678 or 56161 from your registered mobile number in the following order:
UIDPAN
In case you are not sure whether you have linked your PAN and Aadhaar, you can open Link Aadhaar Status page on the I-T website to check. Put in your PAN and Aadhaar number to check.
The CBDT frames policy for the Income Tax Department. The SC, in September 2018, had declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid and held the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of I-T returns and allotment of PAN.
Aadhaar or Unique Identity Number, a 12-digit number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is one of the most important documents of personal identification in India whereas PAN is a 10-character alphanumeric number issued by the Income Tax Department to a person, firm or entity.
