PAN Will Become Inoperative If Not Linked With Aadhaar By End Of March 2023: I-T Dept

PAN-Aadhaar Linking: The income tax department on Saturday said it is mandatory to link permanent account numbers (PAN) with Aadhaar before March 31, 2023. It added that the unlinked PAN will become inoperative from April 1, 2023.

“As per Income-tax Act, 1961, it is mandatory for all PAN holders, who do not fall under the exempt category, to link their PAN with Aadhaar before March 31, 2023. From April 1, 2023, the unlinked PAN shall become inoperative. What is mandatory, is necessary. Don’t delay, link it today!” the income tax department said on Saturday in a tweet.

The Income Tax Department has also urged all PAN holders, those who do not come under the exempt category as per the Notifications No. 37/2017, dated 11th May, 2017 and who have not linked their Aadhaar with PAN yet, are requested to do so immediately. PAN can be linked with a valid Aadhaar on www.incometax.gov.in after paying a fee of Rs 1000.

The ‘exempt category’, according to a notification issued by the Union Finance Ministry in May 2017, are those individuals residing in the states of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya; a non-resident as per the Income-tax Act, 1961; of the age of 80 years or more at any time during the previous year and a person not a citizen of India.

The Income Tax Department has mentioned on its website that “CBDT has extended the deadline of linking of Aadhaar with the PAN from 31st March 2022 to 31st March 2023. You can link the Aadhaar with the PAN till 31st March 2023. You will be required to pay a fee of Rs. 500 till 30th June 2022 and fee of Rs 1000 from 1st July 2022.”

After April 1, 2023, the person shall not be able to file I-T return using the inoperative PAN; pending returns will not be processed; pending refunds cannot be issued to inoperative PANs; pending proceedings as in the case of defective returns cannot be completed once the PAN is inoperative and tax will be required to be deducted at a higher rate.

“In addition to the above, the taxpayer might face difficulty at various other fora like banks and other financial portals as PAN is one of the important KYC (know your customer) criterion for all kinds of financial transaction,” the circular said.

The CBDT frames policy for the Income Tax department.

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the IT Department to a person, firm or entity.

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