Still not linked your PAN with Aadhaar? It may become invalid after this date

The government in Budget 2019 said the taxpayers from this year onwards in India will be able to file their Income Tax Returns using Aadhaar. All PAN cards that have not been linked to Aadhaar will be deactivated after August 31, according to a report.

In order to validate and continue using the existing PAN cards, citizens will have to link them to Aadhaar, or else the PAN cards will be deactivated and people will have to quote Aadhaar number while filing their taxes, according to a Business Standard report. One who doesn't have Aadhaar linked with PAN card or doesn't have a PAN card but quotes Aadhaar while filing tax will get a new virtual PAN number. This same PAN number will be linked to the quoted Aadhaar number, the report said. 

There are around four crore PAN cards in India and only around 2.2 crore are linked with Aadhaar. This linking process of PAN and Aadhaar has faced a number of issues from people raising privacy concerns to Supreme Court's verdict that allowed linking of PAN Card and Aadhaar but also ruled that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for availing basic services.

Here are the guidelines of government on the process of PAN and Aadhaar linking:

1. Everyone has to link their PAN number with Aadhaar number.

2. If you don't have Aadhaar number you have to get one.

3. People who don't have a PAN card, don't need to get one anymore. They can use Aadhaar number while filing taxes.

4. When you use the Aadhaar number to file tax, the Income Tax Department will generate a virtual PAN number linked to your Aadhaar number. This will be your PAN in future.