Mysore/Mysuru: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ministry of Finance, Government of India, through its circular dated 23.4.2024, has given another opportunity by extending the due date for linking of PAN and Aadhaar in the Income Tax portal before 31.5.2024.

Every person who has been allotted a Permanent Account Number (PAN) and who is eligible to obtain an Aadhaar number, shall mandatorily link their Aadhaar and PAN on payment of fee Rs. 1,000 on or before 31.5.2024. The fee payment for PAN-Aadhaar Linkage need to be made through e-Pay Tax functionality available in Income Tax portal.

The prescribed fee must be paid under Major Head 0021 and Minor Head 500 and Assessment Year (AY) should be 2025-26 using Challan ITNS 280.

If the taxpayer has made any mistake while making the payment under Minor Head 500, there is no provision for refund of wrong payments made.

Any mismatch in name, date of birth in Aadhaar and PAN, get correction done either in PAN or Aadhaar database, such that both have matching details.

If PAN-Aadhaar not linked, it will become inoperative. If inoperative:

i) the PAN holder will not be able to file IT return using the inoperative PAN; (ii) Pending IT returns will not be processed; (iii) Pending IT refunds cannot be issued; (iv) Pending proceedings as in the case of defective returns cannot be completed; (v) TCS/TDS will be deducted at a higher rate as PAN becomes inoperative. In addition to the above, the taxpayer might face difficulty at various other places like banks and other financial institutions, as PAN is one of the important KYC criterion for many of the financial transactions.

Aadhaar-PAN linking presently does not apply to any individual who is i) a non-resident as per the Income Tax Act, 1961; ii) of the age of eighty years or more and iii) not a citizen of India, according to N.D. Shreenivaas of Bhavani Associates.