ALERT: 17 crore PAN cards may soon turn useless

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Over 17 crore PAN cardholders have not linked the document with Aadhaar card despite the Income Tax department extending the deadline eight times. According to an amendment in the Finance Bill, 2019, the income tax department can make all such PAN cards which are not linked to Aadhaar inoperative.

What the Income Tax Act says

"If a person fails to intimate the Aadhaar number, the permanent account number allotted to such person shall be made inoperative after the notified date in the manner as may be provided by rules, Clause 41 of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act reads.

17.58 crore PAN card holders yet to link with Aadhaar, says Govt

30.75 crore PAN cards were linked to Aadhaar till January, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur informed the Lok Sabha recently. 17.58 crore PAN card holders are yet to link the document with Aadhaar, he said. 

PAN-Aadhaar extended deadline

According to the latest deadline, PAN cardholders can link the document with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020. "The extension of due date for linking of PAN with Aadhaar will benefit these PAN holders as they will get extra time to link their PANs with Aadhaar," Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said.

How to link PAN with Aadhaar:

• You can link PAN with Aadhaar through the income tax e-filing portal or through SMS. You have to submit PAN, Aadhaar number and name by clicking on the 'Link Aadhaar' section. An OTP will then be sent on your mobile phone. 
• You can also use the SMS facility. Send an SMS to either 567678 or 56161 in the following format: UIDPAN<12 digit Aadhaar><10 digit PAN
• Your details such as name, gender, date of birth should be exactly the same in both PAN and Aadhaar for linking the two documents.
• If at all there is a minor mismatch in Aadhaar name when compared to the original data in Aadhaar, a one-time password (Aadhaar OTP) will be sent to the mobile number registered with Aadhaar. However, the PAN-Aadhaar might fail in case the name in Aadhaar card is completely different from the name mentioned in PAN. You will then have to change the name in either Aadhaar or in PAN database.

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