The Central Government has directed for quoting of the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar a mandatory step at the time of applying for Permanent Account Number (PAN).
To check tax evasion through the use of multiple PAN cards, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and for linking of PAN with Aadhaar.
This announcement was made through an amendment on tax proposals in the Finance Bill for 2017-18.
“Every person who has been allotted PAN as on July 1, 2017, and who in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 139AA is required to intimate his Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to the principal director general of income tax (systems) or DGIT (systems),” said the revenue department.
“The rules will come into effect from July 1, 2017,” said the revenue department, while amending Rule 114 of the I-T Act, that deals with the application for allotment of PAN.
Nearly 2.07 crore taxpayers have already linked their Aadhaar with PAN.
Finance Minister has also hinted that the Aadhar card may replace PAN card in the future.
“A stage may come when unique identity card (Aadhaar) may become the sole card. There are many countries where such a situation exists. There is a social security number in America and in India it (Aadhaar) could be the counterpart,” said Arun Jaitley.
The government has also notified that any PAN card that is not linked with Aadhaar as mandated by section 139AA will be invalid.
To link your PAN with Aadhaar, go to income tax department’s e-filing portal at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ and enter your user id and password to access your profile.
News users can register on the portal by entering basic registration details such as PAN card, name and date of birth.
After logging into the portal update Aadhaar by clicking the “Profile Settings” tab. Click on “Link Aadhaar” on the drop down menu that will appear. A new form will be displayed.
Enter your details such as name, date of birth and gender as per PAN records. Post this, enter your Aadhaar number and name. After you submit the Aadhaar details, a success message will be displayed confirming the linking of Aadhaar with PAN. A confirmation email will be sent to the registered email id as well.
