PAN not linked with Aadhaar by end of March 2023 to be rendered inoperative.

The last day to link a Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar is March 31, 2023. According to the income tax department, failure to do so will lead to the unlinked PAN becoming inoperative. 

A circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said once a PAN becomes inoperative, an individual shall be liable for all the consequences under the I-T Act and will have to suffer a number of implications.

The person shall not be able to file an I-T return using the inoperative PAN; pending returns will not be processed; pending refunds cannot be issued to inoperative PANs; pending proceedings, as in the case of defective returns, cannot be completed once the PAN is inoperative; and tax will be required to be deducted at a higher rate.

The provisions of the Income-tax Act make it mandatory for every person who has been allotted a PAN to intimate his or her Aadhaar number to the prescribed authority so that the Aadhaar and PAN can be linked.

However, there are a few people who are exempt from the compulsion. They do not have to mandatorily link their PAN with their Aadhaar.

As per the 2017 notification issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Aadhaar-PAN linkage requirement does not apply to these four types of people.

1. Individuals who reside in the states of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, and Meghalaya
2. Individuals who are Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) as per the Income-tax Act, 1961
3. Individual of the age of eighty years or more at any time during the previous year.
4. A person who is not a citizen of India.

The Aadhaar-PAN linking was free before March 31, 2022. A fee of Rs 500 was imposed from April 1, 2022, and was later increased to Rs 1,000 from July 1, 2022.

(With inputs from agencies)