The Supreme Court has made it mandatory to link the PAN card with the Aadhaar Card number. According to Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, every individual has to carry out the procedure of Pan Card Aadhar Link by 31st March 2021. This will ensure that the income tax returns of earning individuals are correctly processed.
How to check whether the pan is linked with the Aadhar card
Sooner or later you have to get the PAN card seeded with the Aadhaar Card. The e-filing portal of the Income Tax department follows a simple procedure to do the PAN Card Aadhaar Card link. If you have not linked the two yet, you can use the website and get it linked. But if you have already seeded the two and want to check Aadhaar status here is how you can do it.
Through the website of Income Tax Department
- Visit the e-Filing portal of the Income Tax Department
- Tap on the ‘Link Aadhar’ option under the ‘Quick Links’ option.
- The said option will lead to the next page displaying a form for Aadhaar link.
- On the top of the page, there will be a quick link stating, ‘click here to view the status’. Tap on the link.
- On the next screen, enter the following details.
- PAN
- Aadhaar Card number
- After providing the respective numbers, click on ‘View Link Aadhar Status’.
- The portal will show you the status of your linkage, i.e., whether the two are linked yet or not.
Through the SMS facility of Income Tax Department
- Type the message, UIDPAN <12 digit Aadhaar Card Number> <10 digit Permanent Account Number>.
- Send the message to 56161 or 567678.
- If the linkage has already been done, you will receive an SMS confirming the link.
What to do if PAN is not linked with Aadhaar?
It is important to get your PAN linked with your Aadhar. If you have not done it already here are the steps to link it.
- Land on the website of the Income Tax Department.
- Tap on the quick link of ‘Link Aadhaar’.
- Enter the PAN and Aadhaar number as provided in your Aadhaar card along with other required.
- Put in the Captcha Code.
- Press on ‘Link Aadhaar’.
You can also link the PAN with Aadhaar by sending an SMS to 56161 or 567678. All you have to do is send a text typing – UIDPAN <12 digit Aadhar Card Number> <10 digits Permanent Account number> on your phone.
Reason to link your Pan card with the Aadhar card
The Income Tax Department of India has constantly been reminding people to seed the Aadhar with the PAN card. They are constantly requesting people to not miss out the deadline of 31st March 2021. Here is why.
To secure the validity of PAN card
If the PAN and Aadhar are not linked on time, then the PAN card will become invalid. If your PAN becomes ‘inoperative’ as stated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT), you will not be able to use it for carrying out any kind of monetary transactions. This can cause a lot of troubles as the PAN card details are mandatory while opening a bank account, fixed deposit account or submitting your income tax returns.
Besides, if the PAN card becomes invalid, it will be considered that the individual does not hold a PAN Card anymore. But, this will not hamper the individual’s previous monetary transaction, which will preserve the validity of existing transactions.
Put an end to tax evasion
Through the linkage, the government will be able to examine any kind of taxable transactions. The Aadhar card will verify his identity. Through this process, the government will make sure that no individual can evade his taxes.
Multiple Pan Cards
The PAN Aadhaar link will also prevent individuals from applying for more than one PAN card. Individuals usually do this to evade taxes.
Individuals tend to have multiple PAN cards to use one for financial transactions and the others for taxable transactions to hide it from the Income Tax department. However with this new measure of the government, if any individual is using numerous PAN cards, then his Aadhar card will identify the different PAN cards linked to it and the government will take steps to redress the issue.
The Pan Card Aadhar Link will be a headstart to both individuals and the government. More often than not, we keep complaining of paying our taxes on time while a lot of people and entities trick the government and evade it. Well, that will not be the case anymore.
