Today is last day for Aadhaar-PAN linking, here's how you can do it

Friday, June 30 is the last day for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their Aadhaar number. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made it mandatory for all taxpayers to complete the process. 

Here is how to link Aadhaar with PAN

1. Open the Income Tax e-filing portal at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

2.  Complete the registration (if not done already). The PAN will be the User ID.

3.  Log in using the User ID, password and date of birth.

4.  A pop-up window will appear, telling you to link your PAN with Aadhaar. If you do not see any window, go to ‘Profile Settings’ on the Menu and select ‘Link Aadhaar’.

5. Your name, date of birth, gender and other details will already be mentioned as per PAN details.

6. Verify the details on screen with the ones in your Aadhaar. (If there is a mismatch, it needs to be corrected in either of the documents.

7. After matching the details, enter the Aadhaar number and on “link now” button.

8. A pop-up message will come up saying that your Aadhaar has been successfully linked to your PAN.

9. You can also visit https://www.utiitsl.com/ or https://www.egov-nsdl.co.in/ to link your PAN and Aadhaar.

Why is it mandatory? 

The income-tax (I-T) department made it mandatory to link PAN with Aadhaar after several instances were reported of Permanent Account Numbers being allotted to one person or one PAN allotted to more than one person. This would ensure de-duplication of the PAN database. 

What happens if you do not link Aadhar and PAN?

Failure to do so makes PAN inoperative. PAN is important for financial purposes. Without it, one cannot file income tax returns and pending returns cannot be processed and issued. As per Income Tax Rule 206AA, the tax collected at source (TCS) and tax deducted at source (TDS) will be higher for those who have not cited their PAN.