The Income Tax Department, in a public message on Sunday, has said that it is mandatory to link your permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar by December 31 this year.
"Building a better tomorrow! To reap seamless benefits of income tax services, complete the vital link before 31st December, 2019," the department said.
The deadline to link the PAN with Aadhaar was extended till December 31 by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) through an order issued in September this year. Earlier, the deadline for this linkage was September 30. The CBDT frames policy for the Income Tax Department.
The Supreme Court, in September last year, had declared the Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid and held that the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of I-T returns and allotment of PAN.
Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to tax authorities.
Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India and PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T Department to a person, firm or entity.
From April 1, 2019, it has been mandatory to quote and link Aadhaar number while filing I-T returns unless specifically exempted.
Here's how to link PAN-Aadhaar online
The I-Tax department has listed several ways for the income tax assessees to link their Aadhaar with PAN, on its websites—incometaxindia.gov.in.
Step 1: Go to the Income Tax e-filing portal (www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) and log in to your account, if you have one or create if you don’t.
Step 2: Click on ‘Profile Settings’ and then on ‘Link Aadhaar’ (at the bottom of ‘Profile Settings’ drop-down menu)
Step 3: Enter your 12-digit ‘Aadhaar Number’ in the box and click on 'Link Aadhaar'.
You will see a pop-up message saying “Aadhaar-PAN linking is completed successfully” if it's done.
You may also link PAN-Aadhaar without logging into your account on www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. You just have to enter your PAN number, Aadhaar number and your name as per the Aadhaar card, and click on 'Link Aadhaar'. The linking will be confirmed post verification from UIDAI.
A couple of things to note:
An Aadhaar OTP will be generated if your name does not match that on your PAN card, whereas your date of birth and gender matches. The OTP will be sent to the mobile number registered/linked to the Aadhaar number. You will have to enter that OTP online to continue and complete the linking process.
In case of a mismatch in the data of PAN and Aadhaar, it is better to get it corrected before trying to link the two numbers.
Link PAN-Aadhaar via SMS
The taxpayers can link their Aadhaar with their PAN, using an SMS-based facility, too.
Just send an SMS to either 567678 or 56161 from your registered mobile number in the following format:
UIDPAN<SPACE><12-digit Aadhaar><SPACE><10-digit PAN>
(With PTI inputs)
