Aadhaar-PAN Linking Deadline Extended: Know How To Do It

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), apex decision-making body of the Income Tax Department working under the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry, has given three more months to the general public for linking their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their Aadhaar number. “CBDT extends the date for linking PAN and Aadhaar from September 30, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Notification issued on 28.09.2019,” stated the notification from the Income Tax Department on Saturday. Those who have these two documents must link them by December 31, 2019, the extended new last date. After that it is highly likely that the Income Tax Department will not give any more extension to link them. Earlier, the last date for linking the two documents was September 30, 2019.

What happens if you fail to link the both?

If the holder of the PAN card fails to link PAN with Aadhaar then his PAN card will cease to be inoperative. Tax experts say it is unclear as to how it will end up as an inoperative document. But one thing is clear an inoperative PAN card cannot be used for many things like financial transactions or filing of Income Tax Return. Quoting of PAN is mandatory for certain financial transactions. On March 31, 2019, the CBDT issued a notification setting September 30, 2019 as the deadline for linking the two. Also from April 1, 2019 it is a must to quote and link Aadhaar number while filing ITR.

How to link PAN with Aadhaar?

The government has made consumer friendly the entire process of linking PAN with Aadhaar. The process is very simple. You can either do it on the income tax e-filing website (https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home) or by sending an SMS from your registered mobile number.

 Here’s how you can do it;

- Log on to the income tax e-filing website. On the home page you will find ‘Link Aadhaar’ button at the top of a column in the left side. You can either click on this link or directly log in to your account by signing in.

However, before starting this kindly note that you have registered your mobile number with the UIADI and Income Tax Department database. If you haven’t done so you will not receive an OTP which is an important link in completing this step.

- After clicking on “Link Aadhaar” you will be directed to a new page where details like PAN, Aadhaar number, Name as per Aadhaar needs to be filled. You will also have to check a tick box if you have only birth year mentioned on your Aadhaar. You will also have to check an itkc box saying “I agree to validate my Aadhaar details with UIDAI”. Then enter the characters appearing in the captcha. Visually challenged taxpayers can request an OTP in their mobile phones instead of filling in captcha details.

- Once you are done with all these steps you are ready to go. At the end there is “Link Aadhaar” button, click on it. You will get a message saying Aadhaar linked successfully. If your Aadhaar is already linked with PAN you will get the message accordingly.

But if your personal details like name, date of birth, father’s name, do not match on both the documents then you will not be able to link them.

So, before starting these steps get corrections done in your Aadhaar and PAN and make personal details identical.