Q. Is it true that my PAN will be invalid from July if I do not link it to Aadhaar. I have not even applied for Aadhaar. What should I do?
A. Aadhaar number has been made mandatory to file your income-tax returns.
(1) The Income-Tax Department has decided to link the Permanent Account Number (PAN) to Aadhaar to verify its authenticity. The department has found 11.35 lakh fake PANs so far. Many of the people were found to be in possession of two PANs. About 115 crore Indians, or about 95 percent of the country’s population, have Aadhaar numbers.
(2) An amendment to the Income-Tax Act has made it mandatory to cite the Aadhaar number on income tax returns and applications for PAN from July 1. The requirement is as per section 139 AA, which was incorporated into the act in 2017.
PAN invalid without Aadhaar
The PAN will be invalid without citing the Aadhaar number. Persons who have not cited their Aadhaar number will be considered as without having a PAN under the Income-Tax Act and subject to any penal procedures persons without PAN are liable to.
Supreme Court gives a reprieve
The Supreme Court has given its verdict in one of the cases that challenged the amendment to the Income-Tax Act that made the Aadhaar number compulsory. This verdict could give a reprieve to the people without an Aadhaar number.
The court approved the amendment but exempted from the condition people who still do not have an Aadhaar number and those who are yet to receive it despite applying for it. They could file income tax returns without citing the Aadhaar number and such returns and the PAN cited will be valid, the court ruled.
This benefit, however, depends on the decision pending in a case about the legibility of Aadhaar itself.
In short, every taxpayer who already has an Aadhaar number should cite it while filing his income-tax returns. They have to log on to the Income-Tax department website and submit their Aadhaar number. In case they fail to do it, their PAN will be considered invalid and the returns they submitted will not be accepted.
The blocks on the way
The linking of the Aadhaar number and PAN is not easy as it sounds. If the names do not match in both the documents, you can’t link them. A usual hiccup is the difference in the naming convention. PAN records always carry the full name of the holder, while Aadhaar mostly has short forms of the surname and the middle name. In such cases, the taxpayer has to correct his name in one of the documents.
Differences in date of birth or gender could also be a problem while linking PAN to Aadhaar.
The solutions
If you want to correct your name, date of birth or gender in any of the two documents, you have to submit documents proving them. In the case of Aadhaar, you can set the record straight by logging on to https://ssup.uidai.gov.in. You can cite as proof self-attested copies of your passport, PAN card, photo-affixed ration card, voter’s ID, photo-affixed credit card or a certificate issued by a tehsildar or a gazetted officer with the applicant’s photo on it. If you want to correct your date of birth, you have to submit copies of your passport, birth certificate or SSLC book.
As address proof, you can also submit electricity bill, water bill, property tax-paid receipt, rent agreement, bank statement, insurance policy or telephone/mobile phone bills not older than three months.
To get your details corrected on the PAN card, you can submit the application form at PAN service centers or through the Income-Tax Department website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. You will have to pay a fee of Rs 107 as service charge and service tax.