PAN-Aadhaar linking: Here's why your PAN card will be useless if not linked before Mar 31

Mumbai: Here’s your chance to link your Permanent Account Number (PAN) card with your Aadhaar card as the government has extended the deadline till this Sunday. As per the Income Tax Department, persons who haven’t linked their PAN with Aadhaar card may not be able to file income tax returns (ITR) and also can’t cancel their PAN numbers.

The I-T department has given numerous deadlines to link Aadhaar with PAN, but it has now decided to set the deadline till March 31st of this year. Post the Supreme Court’s decision to maintain the constitutional validity of Aadhaar in September 2018, the tax department released a notification, stating the mandatory linking of PAN with Aadhaar for those wanting to file returns under Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act.

Previous month, the top court stated that linking PAN with Aadhaar is important to file IT returns.

The PAN-Aadhaar numbers linkage can be done easily on the websites of Income Tax department, NSDL and UTIITSL by giving your PAN card number and Aadhaar number.

Mention your PAN and Aadhaar card number on the website of Income Tax department, NSDL and UTIITSL to easily register for PAN-Aadhaar linkage.

Suppose the name on the Aadhaar card is entirely different from the stated in PAN card, then the linking process will fail and the person must alter their name in any of the two databases or visit an exclusive PAN application centre of NSDL or UTIITSL for biometric Aadhaar authentication.

If there’s a tiny mismatch of data in Aadhaar and PAN, the I-T department will consider it linking after verifying through a one time password (OTP) sent to your mobile number.