PAN-Aadhaar Linking: ALERT! Big relief for taxpayers, last date for link-up not tomorrow, deadline extended to 31st March 2020

PAN-Aadhaar Linking: The 31st December 2019 deadline for PAN Card-Aadhaar Card linking has been extended by three months! The Income Tax Department today, which is December 30, 2019, announced a three-month extension of PAN-Aadhaar Linking. Now, those people who had failed to link their Aadhaar card with their PAN card, have three months more time to do the linking. This will come as a big relief for all those who were thinking of doing the PAN-Aadhaar linking at the last moment.

Know that if someone fails to meet the new PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline of 31st March 2020, their income tax return or ITR will get rejected and their PAN card will become inoperative. There are some more losses that a person may have to face, in case, he or she fails to meet the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline.

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The Income-Tax department announced the decision in a tweet from its official Twitter handle saying, "The due date for linking of PAN with Aadhaar as specified under sub-section 2 of Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act,1961 has been extended from 31st December 2019 to 31st March 2020."

See Income Tax Department tweet below:

The due date for linking of PAN with Aadhaar as specified under sub-section 2 of Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act,1961 has been extended from 31st December, 2019 to 31st March, 2020.
Notification no.107 of 2019 dated 30/12/2019 issued by CBDT.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) December 30, 2019

As per the new Income Tax norms, from 1st April 2019, it has become mandatory to link and quote one's Aadhaar number during ITR filing, which means an earning individual won't be able to file ITR without PAN-Aadhaar linking. After 31st March 2020, if an earning individual files ITR without PAN-Aadhaar linking, his or her ITR will be rejected by the Income Tax Department. 

Those who are not in the income tax liability slab, should not relax either. They also need to meet the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline otherwise their PAN card will become inoperative. So, rather than facing these problems, it's better for the PAN and Aadhaar cardholders to meet the Income Tax Department's deadline.

How to link PAN-Aadhaar linking: Step by step guide

PAN-Aadhar linking is very simple. Those, who are already filing ITR and have mentioned their Aadhaar number while filing ITR previously, then there are chances of their PAN Aadhaar being already linked. The Income Tax Department has already done that on their own. To check whether one's PAN Aadhar linking already done or not one can check the PAN Aadhaar link online by logging at incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in — the official website of the income tax department.

If your PAN, Aadhaar is not linked then you need not worry. There is 'Link Aadhaar' option where you need to click at. After clicking at the 'Link Aadhaar' option, you will be redirected to a new page where you need to fill all information like your PAN Card number, Aadhaar number and your name. In the case of a change in name between Aadhaar and PAN, one has to fill the name whichever is correct.

If you are unable to link your PAN with Aadhaar by logging in at the income tax website, you can do this through a simple SMS as well. You just need to send SMS on 567678 or 56161. Format of the SMS is UIDPAN<SPACE><12 digit Aadhaar><SPACE><10 digit PAN>. There is no charge being levied on the SMS sender by NSDL or UTI. They have to pay the SMS charges being levied by the mobile operator company.