“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 31 March 2023. From 1 April .2023, the unlinked PAN shall become inoperative. The last date is approaching soon. Don’t delay, link it today!" the department said in a social media post.
As per an earlier notification, those who do not have Aadhaar and are residents of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya are exempt from this. Also, non-residents as per the Income-tax Act, 1961, people who are eighty years old or more at any time during the previous year and those who are not citizens of India fall in the exempted category.
Linking PAN and Aadhaar is a key project of the tax department that will help in eliminating duplicate PANs and will help in improving tax compliance. PAN can be linked with Aadhaar on the tax department’s website www.incometax.gov.in after paying a fee of ₹1000, the department said.
PAN is mandatory for a host of financial transactions including opening of bank accounts, deposit of cash in bank account, opening of Demat account, transaction of immovable properties and dealing in securities. PAN card is also a means of photo identification accepted by all government and non-government institutions in the country. Since Aadhaar is biometric based and cannot be obtained based on any other identification document, linking the two is important for the tax administration.
