CBDT Extends Last Date for PAN-Aadhaar Linking
CBDT Extends the Last Date for PAN-Aadhaar Linking
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the last date for PAN-Aadhaar Linking from September 30, 2021, to March 31, 2022. CBDT further extends the due date for the completion of penalty proceedings to 31st March 2022. However, there is no extension in the completion of assessment proceedings and it is getting time-barred on 30th September 2021. In this article, we look at the PAN-Aadhaar Linking due date and extension announced by the Government in 2021 in detail.
Gist of Notification
CBDT informed that the Central Government, in continuation of its commitment needs to address the hardship being faced by various stakeholders on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, has decided to extend timelines for compliances under the Income-tax Act, 1961 in the following cases:
- The time limit for intimation of Aadhaar number to the Income-tax Department for linking of PAN with Aadhaar
- The due date for completion of penalty proceedings under the Income Tax Act
- the time limit for issuance of notice and passing of the order by the Adjudicating Authority under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988
Latest Update on PAN-Aadhaar Linking
As per the notification on 17th September 2021 from the CBDT, Ministry of Finance (Notification No. 113/2021), the deadline for linking PAN & Aadhaar is 31st March 2022. The respective notification can be found below:
Press-Release-Government-extends-certain-timelines-to-ease-compliances-dated-17-09-2021The deadline to link PAN with Aadhaar has been extended by six months to March 31, 2022, from the existing time limit of September 30, 2021, which was extended by Notification No. 74/2021 dated 25.06.2021. Respective notification is attached below:
notification_74_2021Linking PAN with Aadhaar for Income Tax Filing
- Linking PAN with Aadhar helps increase the e-filing of income tax returns.
- Income tax filings are usually a cumbersome process, and part of the complex part can be reduced once Aadhaar and PAN are linked.
- Once the two identities are linked, taxpayers will be relieved of the burden of submitting IT acknowledgment to the Income Tax Department, as the identity of the tax filer would be authenticated using the Aadhaar mechanism.
- A lot of hassles will be eliminated for the taxpayers and will also reduce costs incurred by the Income Tax Department in areas of compliance and execution like receiving the hard copy returns and reconciling them with e-filed returns.
Intimate Aadhaar number to Income Tax Department
As per the CBDT’s new notification, every person who has been allotted a permanent account number (PAN) as on the first day of July and who is eligible to obtain an Aadhaar number will have to intimate his/her Aadhaar number to the Principal Director General of Income-tax or Principal Director of Income-tax in the prescribed format and manner by 31st March 2022.
Note: Notification will not apply to those persons or such class of persons or any State or part of any State who is specifically excluded under sub-section (3) of section 139AA of the Income Tax Act.
To know more about the Procedure to Intimating Aadhaar Number to Income Tax Click here
Aadhaar Mandatory for Income Tax Return Filing
As stated above, CBDT notifies that with effect from 01.04.2019, it is mandatory to quote and link the Aadhaar number while filing the return of income, unless specifically exempted.
Know more about the Linking PAN with Aadhaar for Income Tax Filing
Extension of Deadline for the completion of penalty proceedings
Finance Act, 2021 has introduced provisions to levy a fee of Rs. 1,000 under section 234H for failure to link the PAN with Aadhaar within the notified due date of 30.09.2021. Hence, once the notified due date to link the PAN with Aadhaar is extended to 31.03.2022, there will be no requirement to pay late fees of Rs. 1,000 as per section 234H if the same is linked from 1st April 2022.
The time limit for issuance of notice and passing of the order by the Adjudicating Authority
The time limit for issuance of notice and passing of the order by the Adjudicating Authority under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 has also been extended to 31st March 2022.
Procedure to link Aadhaar with PAN
The procedure to link Aadhaar with PAN is explained below:
- Access the official website of the Income Tax Department. On the home page, you can find the option of ‘Our services’ and then select the Aadhaar option
- By clicking on the link Aadhaar option, a window to enter the PAN Card number will be displayed. Furnish the PAN details, Aadhaar Card number, and the name.
- After providing the details, select the ‘I agree to validate my Aadhaar details’ option and click on the ‘Link Aadhaar’.
- The Income Tax Department will verify the information like name, date of birth, etc after which the linking process will be completed.
