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The last date to file PAN with Aadhaar is 31 March, failing which a fine of ₹500- ₹1,000 will be levied, said Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday.
Beginning April 1, a late fine of ₹500 will be levied if PAN linking with Aadhaar is done within the first three months and thereafter ₹1,000 fees will be levied. However, CBDT has restricted the penalty only to late fees and clarified that the PAN will continue to be operative and all transactions that mandate quoting PAN will not be affected.
“In order to mitigate the inconvenience to the taxpayers, as per Notification No.17/2022 dated 29th March, 2022, a window of opportunity has been provided to the taxpayers upto 31st of March, 2023 to intimate their Aadhaar to the prescribed authority for Aadhaar-PAN linking without facing repercussions," CBDT said in its circular.
Earlier, it was announced that defaulters will not only have to pay a late penalty but the existing PAN number will also become inactive.
“PAN becoming inoperative deems that a person had no PAN for income-tax purposes," said Amit Maheshwari, Tax Partner, AKM Global. “This could have created issues for some NRIs (Non-resident Indians) as they do not have Aadhaar."
Further, inoperative PAN forbids people from carrying out certain transactions where quoting of the same is mandatory, such as purchase of immovable property, payments of over ₹50,000 towards life insurance premium or purchase of mutual fund units, sale or purchase of motor vehicles etc.
“Once the PAN becomes inactive, the person will be restricted from doing financial transactions, subjected to TDS at higher rates and penalty under section 272B," said Neeraj Agarwala, Partner, Nangia Andersen. An assessing officer (AO) issues a penalty under section 272B when he finds that the taxpayer has failed to submit or comply with any mandatory requirement related to PAN, as specified in the income tax laws, for transactions. The penalty can be as much as ₹10,000 for each default.
However, taxpayers need not worry about this yet as this penalty won’t kick in until April 2023. "...till 31st March, 2023 the PAN of the assessees who have not intimated their Aadhaar, will continue to be functional for the procedures under the Act, like furnishing of return of income, processing of refunds etc," CBDT said.
Taxpayers can link their PAN and Aadhaar and even check the status of linking by visiting the
Income tax website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/. Alternatively, the linking process can be done through SMS also by sending a message in the format UIDPAN <insert Aadhaar> <enter PAN> to 56161 or 567678 from your registered mobile number.
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