PAN holders: If you fail to do this, you will not be able to use PAN

mangaloretoday.com

New DElhi, July 13: PAN Aadhaar link, link PAN Aadhaar, PAN Aadhaar linking last date, filing of ITR, Aadhaar and PAN linkage, Budget 2019, Section 139AA (2), PAN inoperative, PAN invalid, Union Budget 2019 To link Aadhaar with PAN card, one may go to the e-filing website of the income tax department.

If you already have the PAN card and are eligible to obtain Aadhaar number or you have already acquired one, then you are required to intimate the Aadhaar number to the Income Tax department. Your PAN Aadhaar linking needs to be completed else the PAN will become ‘inoperative’. Presently, under Section 139AA (2), the PAN allotted to a person shall be deemed to be ‘invalid’, in case the person fails to intimate the Aadhaar number. However, going forward, if a person fails to intimate the Aadhaar number and link PAN with Aadhaar, the PAN card will be made ‘inoperative’.

Earlier, the PAN Aadhaar link was to be completed by March 31, 2019, after which they would have become invalid. However, the last date to link PAN with Aadhaar was extended till September 30, 2019. The last date of 30th September still stands but as per Budget 2019, the operative word has been proposed to be changed from ‘invalid’ to ‘Inoperative’, with effect from September 1, 2019.

Importantly, the amendment as proposed in Union Budget 2019 makes the distinction between making the PAN ‘invalid’ and ‘inoperative.’ While the former would have construed that the process to apply and the transactions are done using it may stand invalid, the latter makes it inoperative for future dealings even while the past transactions still stand to legal scrutiny. If the PAN is treated as invalid, the current provisions suggest that the assessee had never applied for PAN which could have made the past transactions using it fall in legal hassles.

The PAN Aadhaar linking last date is September 30, 2019, after which the PAN will become inoperative. Once the PAN becomes inoperative, one will not be able to undergo several transactions where PAN is required to be quoted mandatorily. The income tax department has specified 18 financial transactions where quoting of PAN is mandatory by the individual. In such cases, the transactions could be carried out only when the PAN and Aadhaar are linked thus making the PAN re-active.

To link Aadhaar with PAN card, one may go to the e-filing website of the income tax department. One may use log-in credentials or even without logging, the linking of Aadhaar and PAN can be done. The income tax department has made it clear that for filing of ITR, Aadhaar and PAN linkage is mandatory unless specifically exempted.