PAN-Aadhar Link: The last date to link your PAN card to your Aadhaar is March 31 currently, in case you fail to do so by the date there is a heavy penalty for such people.

Permanent Account Number (PAN) cardholders should link their with their Aadhaar card number by March 31, before the last date for it is announced, as it may obstruct many of your financial tasks. It is important for every PAN cardholder to get it linked with their Aadhaar and avoid paying penalty for missing the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline.

An Aadhaar card contains a unique 12-digit number issued to every citizen in India by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). It acts as an identification number that helps access the cardholder’s details from the government database, such as biometrics and contact information.

Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, being a resident of India, can enrol to obtain an Aadhaar number voluntarily. The enrolment process is free of cost. Once an individual enrols, their details are permanently stored in the database. One person cannot have multiple Aadhaar numbers.

If you hold a PAN and are eligible to get Aadhaar or already have an Aadhaar number, you must inform the income tax department. You can do this by linking PAN to Aadhaar. If you fail to do PAN-Aadhar linking, your PAN will become ‘inoperative’.

If you do not link your Aadhaar and PAN by the deadline, then you may have to face many more inconveniences. It is very important for the PAN cardholder to link Aadhaar or else his/her PAN card will be considered invalid. If the PAN card becomes invalid, it will not be possible to pay income tax & many other tasks will also be stuck such as not being able to open a bank account. Also, tasks related to mutual funds, stock trading will come to a halt. 

Know here how PAN can be linked to Aadhaar

  1. Open the Income Tax e-filing portal https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.
  2. Register on it (if not already done).
  3. Your PAN (Permanent Account Number) will be your user ID.
  4. Log in by entering a user ID, password and date of birth.
  5. A pop-up window will open which will be for linking your PAN to Aadhaar.
  6. If the pop-up window is not open, go to Profile Settings on the menu bar and click on ‘Link Aadhar’.
  7. According to PAN, details such as name, date of birth and gender will already be there.
  8. Verify your Aadhaar and PAN card information.
  9. If the details match and are correct, enter your Aadhaar number and click on the “Link Now” button.
  10. A pop-up message will tell you that your Aadhaar has been successfully linked to your PAN.

Section of late fee provision included in the income tax act

According to Section 234H, which was recently included in the Income Tax Act, if a PAN cardholder fails to link his/her PAN with the Aadhaar card till the deadline or earlier then he or she will have to pay Rs 1000 as a late fee. If you use an inactive PAN card, then in that case you may have to pay a fine of up to Rs. 10,000.