Income tax returns filing: You can get PAN card instantly for free! How Aadhaar card made it possible

The Income Tax department has launched an 'instant' Aadhaar-based PAN allotment service for individuals seeking to obtain the unique identity for the first time. "This facility is free of cost and instant allotment of e-PAN is available only for a limited period on first-come-first-serve basis for valid Aadhaar holders," the department said in a recent advisory. A senior official said the new facility has been introduced in view of an increasing number of people applying to obtain the Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their financial and tax matters.

A fresh PAN will be allotted on the basis of a one time password (OTP) sent over the "active mobile number" linked with the valid Aadhaar number of a person, the advisory said. The new PAN, obtained by this mechanism, will have the same name, date of birth, gender, mobile number and address that is present in the individual's Aadhaar, it said. "The e-PAN facility is only for resident individuals and not for Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), firms, trusts and companies etc," it said.

Once the PAN is allotted to an applicant through his electronic Aadhaar-based verification system in a few seconds, the applicant will be sent the PAN card by post in sometime, the official said. "This is one more initiative that leverages the Aadhaar database to quickly disburse/allot a government service," he said. The process can be done at the official portal of the department --https://www.Incometaxindiaefiling.Gov.In.

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The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that makes policy for the Income Tax department, had yesterday extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking to March 31 next year. This is the fifth time it has extended the deadline for individuals to link their PAN to their biometric ID (Aadhaar). According to Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act, every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T department to a person, firm or entity.