Link your PAN with Aadhaar to process Income Tax return: Here's how

Key highlights

• Last date to file ITR extended till August 5 and deadline to link PAN with Aadhaar extended till August 30
• You can file ITR just by quoting Aadhaar Number
• Need to link Aadhaar with PAN to process your ITR

With the sea of complaints flowing in on the last day of filing Income Tax Return (ITR), Ministry of Finance on Monday extended the deadline till August 5. At the same time, the last date for linking permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar has also been extended to August 31, 2017.

Aadhaar card was till now only an optional document while filing income tax return but PAN number was mandatory to file returns. 

However, earlier, the government had given time till July 1 to get it linked. 

On Monday, Ministry of Finance said, "There are some complaints that the taxpayers are not being able to log on to the e-filing website of Income Tax Department or not being able to link Aadhaar with PAN because of different names reflected in PAN and Aadhaar database. The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before 31st August, 2017. However, the returns will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done."

Which means, while filing ITR you just need to quote Aadhaar Number but to process the ITR, you need to link PAN with Aadhaar. 

Taxpayers who could not file ITR till now for the financial year 2016-2017 due to different personal details on PAN and Aadhaar, can now do it. Here's how:

Firstly, in case their is mismatch Aadhaar name provided by taxpayer when compared to the actual data in Aadhaar, One Time Password (Aadhaar OTP) will be sent to the mobile registered with Aadhaar. 

Taxpayers need to ensure that the date of birth and gender in PAN and Aadhaar are exactly same. 

In a rare case where Aadhaar name is completely different from name in PAN, then the linking will fail and taxpayer will be prompted to change the name in either Aadhaar or in PAN database.

There is no need to login or be registered on E-filing website. This facility can be used by anyone to link their Aadhaar with PAN.

Secondly, if you are already registered, then you can link Aadhaar in two steps from official Income Tax website:

1. Just go to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in abd click on 'Link Aadhaar' option. 

2. Once done, provide you PAN, Aadhaar number and enter name exactly as given on Aadhaar card and submit. After verification from Unique Identification Authority of India the linking will be confirmed. 

Thirdly, if you are not registered, still you can link Aadhaar in five steps:

1. Log on to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. if are not already registered at the income tax e-filing portal then do so this time. Then log in to the portal by entering your Login ID, password and date of birth,

2. After logging, a pop up window will appear prompting you to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card. If a pop up does not appear, click on a blue tab named ‘Profile Settings’ and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’.

3. All your details like name, date of birth and gender will already mentioned there, verify the details on screen with ones mentioned on your Aadhaar card. 

4. If the details match, enter your Aadhaar card number and captcha code and click on the “Link now” button.

5. On completion of the process, a pop-up message will inform you about successful linkage. 

Fourthly, if you want the process to be done on your finger tips, I-T department in May issued an advertisement on a leading national dailies guiding the tax payers that an Aadhaar can now be linked with their PAN through SMS-based facility.

A taxpayer can link Aadhar with PAN by sending an SMS to either 567678 or 56161.

So, do not wait and link your Aadhaar today to avoid technical glitches on last date.

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