The world has gone digital, and the Government of India has focused on this digitalisation of every procedure for the benefit of the country and its individual. The Government of India has made it a mandate (mandate process) to like various individual government identifications to be linked with the Aadhaar card. With the world going digital, it has become a mandate to link PAN with the Aadhaar Card. Before understanding the process, it is vital to know what PAN and Aadhaar Card are. It is also extremely necessary to understand the importance of this process and figure out the steps regarding the procedure.
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What is a PAN Card?
A Permanent Account Number or PAN is a way in which various taxpayers in the country could be identified. The PAN is a 10-digit unique identification “alphanumeric” number, something that contains both alphabets and numbers. PAN is assigned to Indians, generally to those who pay tax. It is majorly a mandatory process for all working citizens of India.
The way in which a PAN works is that the PAN system of identification is actually, in fact, a computer-based system that assigns a unique identification number to every Indian tax-paying person. With the help of this method, all tax-related information for a person is recorded against a single PAN number that acts as the primary key for the storage of information. This system is similar and identical, yet unique for every individual, as their PAN number is not identical. This is shared across the country, and therefore no two people could have the same PAN.
When PAN is allotted to a person, PAN Card is provided by the Income Tax Department. While the PAN is a number, PAN Card is a physical card that has the PAN as well as the name, the date of birth, and a picture of the individual to whom the card belongs. A PAN Card and its copies can be submitted and used as proof of identity or Date of Birth. The PAN Card is valid for one’s entire life as it remains unaffected by any change in address of the PAN Cardholder.
What is an Aadhaar Card?
An Aadhaar is a 12-digit random number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to the residents of India after the verification process is completed by the Authority. Any individual, regardless of their age and gender, who is a resident of India, may voluntarily enrol to obtain an Aadhaar number. Those who are willing to enrol have to provide minimal demographic and biometric information during the enrolment process, and this is completely free of cost. An individual needs to enrol for Aadhaar only once, and after de-duplication, only one Aadhar is to be generated; this uniqueness is achieved through the process of demographic and biometric de-duplication.
Now that the basics of their definitions have been covered, it is vital to understand the process of linking PAN with the Aadhaar Card.
How to link PAN with Aadhaar Card?
One needs to know that there are two ways to link PAN with Aadhaar Card:
- Through the Income Tax e-filing website
- Sending an SMS to 567678 or 56161
- Link PAN Card with Aadhaar Card by filling form
Method 1: Through the Income Tax e-filing website
Step 1: Visit the official site by the Government of India of the Income Tax.
Step 2: It is necessary to provide details correctly of the PAN and Aadhaar numbers. The name must be written as it is on the Aadhaar card.
Step 3: Then one must tick the square if only the birth year is mentioned in the Aadhaar card
Step 4: Enter the Captcha code.
Note: Visually challenged users can request an OTP instead of the captcha code. The OTP will be generated to the registered mobile number.
Method 2: Sending an SMS to 567678 or 56161
Step 1: One is required to type UIDPAN<12-digit Aadhaar><10-digit PAN> on their mobile
Step 2: And then send it to 567678 or 56161
Note: SMS’ UIDPAN Aadhaar-number PAN-number to 567678
Method 3: To link PAN with Aadhar card by Filling up the form.
One can also link the PAN with the Aadhaar manually by visiting NSDL. NSDL is the PAN Service Provider. Fill the form to link the PAN with Aadhaar. One must also submit the necessary documents along with the form to successfully complete the process.
Has the PAN and Aadhaar failed to link?
In case the PAN and the Aadhaar have failed to link, then one must not be much worried. They just will have to submit a signed Aadhaar seeding form by visiting their nearest PAN Centre. It must be noted and seen that along with the Aadhaar seeding form, and it is also mandatory to carry all the relevant documents such as PAN and Aadhaar, as they are likely to be needed for the process. However, it needs to be known that the physical seeding of the Aadhaar with the PAN is, as a matter of fact, a chargeable service.
How To see the Status of link PAN with Aadhar card?
Step 1: One must go to the Income Tax Department’s official website and then go to the Aadhaar Status or click on the link https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal
Step 2: Enter the Aadhaar and PAN number carefully.
Step 3: Then Click on ‘View Link Aadhaar Status’.
One can check the status of linking of Aadhaar with PAN via the SMS facility as well. One will have to send an SMS to 567678 or 56161 in the particular format mentioned:
One would have to send, UIDPAN < 12-digit Aadhaar number> < 10-digit Permanent Account Number>
When the Aadhaar has been successfully linked with PAN, then one will see the message: “Aadhaar (Aadhaar number) is already associated with PAN..in the ITD database. Thank you for using our services.”
What to do if PAN and Aadhaar cannot be linked?
In various cases, a person might not be able to link the PAN to the Aadhaar. It is viewed that the reason for the rejection would be the mismatch of information present in the PAN and Aadhaar. However, once the corrections are made, one will easily be able to link the PAN and Aadhaar, following the steps mentioned above.
Benefits of Linking PAN with Aadhaar Card
By linking the PAN with the Aadhaar, the possibility of an individual having more than one PAN Card is completely removed. When one links the Aadhaar with the PAN, it allows the Income Tax Department to copiously detect any form of tax evasion. Even the hectic process of actually filing income returns meticulously also becomes considerably easy. Individuals are not required to provide any proof of them having to have filed their income tax returns. Linking the Aadhaar with PAN will also prevent the latter from getting cancelled. This will help in having a summarized detail of one’s taxes attached to Aadhaar for future reference.
Why is it important to Link PAN Card with Aadhaar Card?
As both the PAN Card and the Aadhaar card are unique identification cards whose purpose is to be served as proof of identity that is necessary for registration and verification purposes.
The government has urged everyone to link their PAN cards with their Aadhaar cards, as it is an important procedure. Some of the reasons being:
1. To Stop Tax Evasion and Avoidance:
Linking the Aadhaar and the PAN cards, the government will be able to keep tabs on the taxable transactions of a particular individual, whose identity and address will be verified by their Aadhaar card. Further will this constructively help in showing that every taxable transaction or activity will be recorded and documented by the government. This will result in the government already having a detailed record of all the financial transactions that would attract tax for each individual, making tax evasion or avoidance avoidable and not be something common and prevalent.
2. Loophole of the “many” PAN Cards:
One of the vital reasons to link PAN with Aadhaar is to help reduce the occurrence of individuals applying for multiple PAN cards is to scam the government by fraudulent methods so that one could avoid paying the taxes. This is done by scamming and applying for more than one PAN card. This occurs because a person could use one of the cards for particular financial transactions and pay taxes only for those particular transactions. In contrast, they could use the other PAN card for other accounts or other transactions that they would like to hide from the Income Tax department and therefore avoid paying taxes on those. The PAN and Aadhaar card link would help the government as they will be able to connect the identity of an individual through their Aadhaar card and then have all the details of the financial transactions, which would occur only through this linking of the PAN card. Therefore, if multiple PAN cards are registered under the same name, the government will be able to identify the same and take proper action.
Thus it is necessary to link the PAN with the Aadhaar Card, as it is not only helpful to the government, but all the tasks of a taxpayer and individual or entities become hassle-free and easier to track. It is rather extremely important to note that the Central Government of India has announced that the date of linking PAN with the Aadhaar Card has been extended from 30 June to 30 September 2021. The date for payments made without interest extension has been extended to 31 August 2021 from the earlier date of 30 June 2021.