Govt Extends Deadline for Linking Aadhaar With PAN to 31 March

The Ministry of Finance said the deadline has been pushed to 31 March 2018, as many have not linked Aadhaar to PAN.

Aadhaar cards to be made mandatory for filing income tax returns and applying for a PAN card.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/AlankitGroup)

The Central Board Of Direct Taxes, on Friday, 8 December, extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) to 31 March.

It has come to notice that some of the taxpayers have not yet completed the linking of PAN with Aadhaar... therefore, to facilitate the process of linking, it has been decided to further extend the time for linking of Aadhaar with PAN.

Central Board Of Direct Taxes

This is the third time that the last day for Aadhaar-PAN linkage has been extended from its 31 July deadline.

The government had earlier shifted the last date to 31 Aug 2017, and thereafter to 31 December 2017.

Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 makes it mandatory for all taxpayers having Aadhaar or enrolment number are required to link the same with PAN. However, non-resident Indians, people who are not citizens of India, those above 80 years of age and residents of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir are exempt from the requirement.

The government recently informed the Supreme Court that it is willing to extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar to various social welfare schemes and services such as bank accounts and mobile numbers up to 31 March 2018.

The extension is likely only if the hearing in the main Aadhaar matter extends beyond the current deadline and will apply only to those who do not yet possess an Aadhaar card, the Centre had said.

(This is a developing story.)

(This article was originally published in BloombergQuint)