Link PAN With Aadhaar Card Before May 31: Income Tax Department To Taxpayers

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday urged taxpayers to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with the Aadhaar Card before Friday, May 31. In a post on social media site X, the I-T department noted that failing to do so will lead to tax deductions at a higher rate.

"Kind Attention Taxpayers, Please link your PAN with Aadhaar before May 31st, 2024, if you haven't already, to avoid tax deduction at a higher rate. Please refer to CBDT Circular No.6/2024 dtd 23rd April, 2024," it stated.

Further, the central agency said that linking the two "ensures you don't face higher tax deduction/tax collection under Section 206AA and 206CC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 due to an inoperative PAN for the transactions entered into before March 31st, 2024."

This was not the first time when the I-T department asked taxpayers to link PAN with the Aadhaar Card, while outlining its regulations and potential consequences.

In a circular dated April 23, 2024, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated, "... the Board, in partial modification and continuation of the Circular No. 3 of 2023, hereby specifies that for the transactions entered into upto 31.03.2024 and in cases where the PAN becomes operative (as a result of linkage with Aadhaar) on or before 31.05.2024, there shall be no liability on the deductor/collector to deduct/collect the tax under section 206AA/206CC, as the case maybe, and the deduction/collection as mandated in other provisions of Chapter XVII-B or Chapter XVII-BB of the Act, shall be applicable."

PAN-Aadhaar linking

The I-T department has made linking of PAN with the Aadhaar Card mandatory for all the taxpayers of India. Failing to link the two before the deadline will render your PAN Cards inoperative, it said, adding no refund will be made against unlinked accounts. 

It further warned that no interest will be payable on the refund for the period when the PAN remains inoperative, adding the tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collected at source (TCS) will be deducted/collected at a higher rate for such individuals.

However, those belonging to the exempted category, will not have to face any of these consequences for not linking the PAN with Aadhaar Card.

Steps to check PAN-Aadhaar link status

Step 1. Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal at www.incometax.gov.in.

Step 2. On the homepage, click on the 'Quick Links' option. 

Step 3. Click on Link Aadhaar status and provide your PAN and Aadhaar Card numbers on the new page. 

Step 4. If your PAN and Aadhaar are already linked, in that case a message will pop up – “Your PAN is already linked to given Aadhaar”. 

Step 5. If not done, then the pop-up will read, “PAN not linked with Aadhaar. Please click on 'Link Aadhaar' to link your Aadhaar with PAN”.