New Delhi / PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline extended to December 31 from September 30

In a notification issued on Saturday, the ministry of finance has extended the deadline to link Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar to December 31 from September 30. The deadline was last extended on March 31.

The notification was issued by Central Board of Direct Taxes, a division of the finance ministry. This is the seventh time the government has extended the deadline for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) to Aadhaar.

The linking of the two, before the deadline, is important since the PAN card will become inoperative if not linked. It is also stipulated that processes related to investments, tax filing and loans may become difficult if absence of linking.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech delivered in July had said that Aadhaar card will now double up as a PAN card for all purposes including filing of Income Tax.

“More than 120 crore Indians now have Aadhaar. Therefore, for ease and convenience of tax payers, I propose to make PAN and Aadhaar interchangeable and allow those who do not have PAN to file Income Tax returns by simply quoting their Aadhaar number and also use it wherever they are required to quote PAN,” Sitharaman said in Parliament on July 5.

She also said that those who had linked their Aadhaar with PAN may use Aadhaar in place of PAN under the IT Act.

Sitharaman had also proposed obtaining of a PAN card easy for Aadhaar holders, “Any person without a PAN will be able to obtain it on the basis of his/her Aadhaar card after the Income Tax Department obtains linked demographic data from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI),” said Sitharaman.

The Finance Minister also announced mandatory quoting of PAN/Aadhaar for certain prescribed high-value transactions for improving compliance.

The budget also proposed to amend the relevant penalty provisions for those failing to link Aadhar with PAN.