PAN Card - Aadhaar Linking - NDA Govt makes linking of Aadhaar number with PAN mandatory from July 01,2017

The Government has made it mandatory to link the existing Aadhaar numbers with the PAN of taxpayers with effect from July 01,2017

Amending income-tax rules and notifying the same, the Government has made quoting of the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar or the enrolment ID a must at the time of application of permanent account number (PAN).

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley through an amendment to tax proposals in the Finance Bill for 2017-18 had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income-tax returns and provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to check tax evasion through the use of multiple PAN cards.

The revenue department said: “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).''

It also entrusted principal DGIT (systems) with specifying the formats and standards along with the procedure for verification of documents filed with PAN application or intimation of Aadhaar number.

The rules will come into force from July 1, 2017, the revenue department, said while amending Rule 114 of the I-T Act, which deals in application for allotment of PAN.

As many as 2.07 crore taxpayers have already linked their Aadhaar with PAN. There are over 25 crore PAN cardholders in the country while Aadhaar has been issued to 111 crore people.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of an I-T Act provision making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN cards and ITR filing, but had put a partial stay on its implementation till a Constitution Bench addressed the issue of right to privacy.

Pursuant to this, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had said the linking of Aadhaar and PAN will be a “must” for filing of income tax returns (ITR) and obtaining PAN from July 01,2017

While Aadhaar is a biometric authentication issued by UIDAI, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number alloted by the I-T department to individuals and entities

Note

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)

The recent Supreme Court order provides interim relief to those who may have PAN but do not have an Aadhaar and have not applied for one as yet from having to compulsorily link the two. It does not provide any relief to those who already have both PAN and Aadhaar. 

Even individuals who are not required to file income tax returns due to income being below exemption limit but possess both PAN and Aadhaar are mandatorily required to link both by a date to be notified as per section 139A ..