Aadhaar-PAN linking must from July 1

Individuals having permanent account number (PAN) will have to link it to their existing 12-digit biometric Aadhaar number from July 1, a government notification said.

Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrolment ID will also have to be mandatorily quoted while applying for PAN, which is a must for filing tax returns, opening of bank accounts and financial transactions beyond a threshold.

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 (ITR) and provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to check tax evasion through the use of multiple PAN cards.

The Supreme Court had earlier this month upheld the validity of an Income Tax 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.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the revenue department has notified amendments to the income tax rules dealing in PAN application. The 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... to the principal director general of income tax (systems) or DGIT (systems).”

Besides, it entrusted principal DGIT (systems) or DGIT (systems) with specifying the format and standard along with procedure for verification of documents filed with PAN application or intimation of Aadhaar.

As many as 20.7 million taxpayers have already linked their Aadhaar with PAN.

There are over 250 million PAN card holders in the country, while Aadhaar has been issued to 1,150 million people.

Referring to the Supreme Court ruling, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the apex policy-making body for the tax department, had then said the linking of Aadhaar and PAN will be a “must” for filing of ITR and obtaining PAN from July 1.

The apex court order had only given a “partial relief” to those who do not have an Aadhaar or an Aadhaar enrolment ID, and the taxman, hence, “will not cancel” the PAN of such individuals, it had ruled.

“Only a partial relief by the court has been given to those who do not have Aadhaar and who do not wish to obtain Aadhaar for the time being, that their PAN will not be cancelled so that other consequences under the I-T Act for failing to quote PAN may not arise,” the CBDT had said.