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Taxpayers Have Time Till December 31 To Link Aadhaar And PAN

The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar for taxpayers extended to December 31.



An Aadhaar biometric identity card, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
An Aadhaar biometric identity card, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

The government on Thursday extended the deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar by four months to December 31, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement.

The deadline for linking the permanent account number with Aadhaar for taxpayers was to end on Thursday.

The extension comes at a time when the government has granted a similar extension for furnishing of Aadhaar for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes. Besides, the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the government’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns, obtaining PAN and has posted the matter for next hearing in November.

According to Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act, every person who has a PAN as on July 1, 2017, will have to link it with Aadhaar.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

However, non-resident Indians, people who are not citizens of India, those above 80 years of age and residents of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir have been exempt from the requirement.

People who do not have Aadhaar can file their income tax returns, but their returns will not be processed till they submit their Aadhaar number, wire agency PTI reported quoting an official it did not identify.

The government has also extended the due date for filing income tax returns for companies, and assessment of tax audits to October 31, 2017 from September 30, 2017, the CBDT statement added.