Your PAN card may become inactive from this date if not linked to Aadhaar

New Delhi, Dec 11: The Income Tax (IT) Department has announced that those PAN (Permanent Account Number) cards that are not linked to Aadhaar will become inoperative. The last date to link Aadhaar with their PAN is March 31, 2023.

The income tax department has issued the same warning on the micro-bloggingplatform Twitter. ''As per Income-tax Act, 1961, it is mandatory for all PAN holders, who do not fall under the exempt category, to link their PAN with Aadhaar before 31.3.2023. From 1.4.2023, the unlinked PAN shall become inoperative. The last date is approaching soon. Don't delay, link it today!,'' read the tweet.

It is compulsory to link your Aadhaar Card with PAN card as your income tax return cannot be processed in case you have not done it till now. Additionally, if you are planning to carry out a bank transaction of more than Rs 50,000, you must link your Aadhaar card with PAN card.

It is worth noting that there is a double penalty of Rs 1000, in case PAN cardholders have not linked Aadhaar with PAN. If you have not yet linked the two, you need to follow the steps below:

How to link your PAN with Aadhaar by following process:

a) Open the Income Tax e-filing portal - https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

b) Register on it (if not already done). Your PAN (Permanent Account Number) will be your user id.

c) Log in by entering the User ID, password and date of birth.

d) A pop up window will appear, prompting you to link your PAN with Aadhaar. If not, go to 'Profile Settings' on Menu bar and click on 'Link Aadhaar'.

e) Details such as name date of birth and gender will already be mentioned as per the PAN details.

f) Verify the PAN details on screen with the ones mentioned on your Aadhaar. Pls. note that if there is a mismatch, you need to get the same corrected in either of the documents.

g) If the details match, enter your Aadhaar number and click on the "link now" button.

h) A pop-up message will inform you that your Aadhaar has been successfully linked to your PAN

i) You may also visit https://www.utiitsl.com/ OR https://www.egov-nsdl.co.in/ to link your PAN and Aadhaar.

How to check status if PAN-Aadhaar linking is complete or not

Follow the steps given below to check if your mandatory PAN-Aadhaar linking is complete:

• Log on to the official website: incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/aadhaarstatus
• Enter your PAN and Aadhaar details
• Click on the 'View Link Aadhaar Status' option
• Check status of the linking will be displayed in the next screen