Nearly 510 million Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) have been linked with Aadhaar ahead of the March 31 deadline. In all, there are about 630 million PANs and tax officials are hopeful that most people will get their PAN and Aadhaar linked.
“We expect this to increase significantly in this fortnight as there is always a last minute rush to do so,” said a senior government official.
A senior official indicated that an extension of the deadline is not being planned as of now. “A lot of effort has been made to publicise the deadline and create awareness so that people will do the needful. An extension to the deadline is not being planned as of now although a last minute decision to this effect can not be ruled out,” said the official.
A late fee of `1,000 has to be paid for linking the two now.
The government has made the linkage of PAN and Aadhaar mandatory by March 31, 2023 through a circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in March last year. The move is aimed at de-duplication of PANs and identifying bogus PANs as there are instances of multiple PANs allotted to a single individual.
Those individual PANs that are not linked to their respective Aadhaar by the end of the fiscal will become inoperative. Once a PAN becomes inoperative, the individual will be unable to file income tax returns and pending returns and refunds will not be processed. Tax will also be deducted at a higher rate.
PAN and Aadhaar linkage is also a part of know your customer (KYC) requirements for various financial services and investments.
The CBDT as well as regulators such as SEBI have been nudging people to link their Aadhaar and PAN.
“Since PAN is the key identification number and part of KYC requirements for all transactions in the securities market, all SEBI registered entities and Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs)are required to ensure valid KYC for all participant,” SEBI had said.
However some individuals are exempt from linking their PAN to Aadhaar. These include those living in Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya, non residents under the Income Tax Act as well as those who are 80 years of age and above.