Gear Up Taxpayers! Save Your PAN from deactivation

As we are aware that, as per latest guidelines issued by CBDT the PAN will be allotted instantly through Aadhaar based KYC. Further, CBDT has notifies Income Tax Rule 114AAA prescribing  that permanent account number (PAN) will become inoperative if  a person, who has been allotted PAN as on the 1st day of July, 2017 and is required to intimate his Aadhaar number under section 139AA(2), has failed to intimate the same on or before the 31st day of March, 2020. In this article we are covering all these factors and will discussed that in detail for your better understanding.

In other words, if the PAN is not linked with Aadhaar before 31^st August, 2020, then the PAN shall be deactivated and subsequently returns will not be processed, which means if the same is not linked within the stipulated time then the filed return shall be treated as if the return has not been filed.

Extract of Section 139AA(2)

(2) Every person who has been allotted permanent account number as on the 1st day of July, 2017, and who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to such authority in such form and manner as may be prescribed, on or before a due date to be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette:

Provided that in case of failure to intimate the Aadhaar number, the permanent account number allotted to the person shall be made inoperative after the date so notified in such manner as may be prescribed.

Note: The date has been specified by Notification Number 11/2020 dated 13^th February, 2020. In this notification CBDT has specified that a person, who has been allotted PAN as on the 1st day of July, 2017 and is required to intimate his Aadhaar number under section 139AA(2), has failed to intimate the same on or before the 31st day of March, 2020, the PAN of such person shall become inoperative immediately after the said date for the purposes of furnishing, intimating or quoting under the Income Tax Act.

Following are the steps to verify whether the aadhaar is being linked with PAN or not:

If you are not a registered user

1. Visit e-filing website i.e. https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

2. In the left side, there is a link ‘Link Aadhaar’ (which is blinking)

3. Clink on the ‘link aadhaar’, fill in the required information i.e. PAN, Aadhaar Number, Name as pr AADHAR, captcha code

4. If the aadhaar is already linked with PAN, then a message will appear like this “Your PAN is linked to Aadhaar Number …………”

If you are a registered user

1. Visit e-filing website i.e. https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

2. Login with user ID and password

3. Click on “Profile Setting”.

4. Click on the “Link Aadhaar” button

5. If the aadhaar is already linked with PAN, then a message will appear like this “Your PAN is linked to Aadhaar Number …………”

Via SMS

1. Send SMS to 567678 or 56161

SMS format (UIDPAN<SPACE><12 digit Aadhaar card number><Space><10 digit PAN card number>)

2. If it is already linked then you will get a message as below

“Aadhaar {XXXXXXXX—-} is already associated with PAN {XXXXX—–} in ITD Database. Thank you for using our Services” – NSDLDP

Allotment of Instant PAN Through Aadhaar Based e-KYC

CBDT has published some guidelines for Instant PAN allotment in near to real time available at free of cost. Individuals (other than minors) with a valid Aadhaar number (with updated Mobile number) can avail the PAN allotment facility.

The salient points of this facility are:

1. The applicant should have a valid Aadhaar which is not linked to any other PAN.

2. The applicant should have his mobile number registered with Aadhaar.

3. This is a paper-less process and applicants are not required to submit or upload any documents.

4. The applicant should not have another PAN. Possession of more than one PAN will result in penalty under section 272B(1) of Income-tax Act.

PAN and validity of PAN

1. Electronically issued and Digitally signed ePAN is now a valid mode of issue of Permanent Account Number (PAN) post amendments in clause (c) in the Explanation occurring after sub- section (8) of Section 139A of Income Tax Act, 1961 and sub-rule (6) of Rule 114 of the Income Tax Rules, 1962.

2. Government has recently amended sub-rule (6) of Rule 114 of the Income Tax Rules, 1962, vide G.S.R 1128(E), dated 19/11/2018 for empowering the Pr. DGIT(S) to notify formats and standards alongwith procedure of issue of PAN.

3. Consequent to notification dated 19/11/2018, Pr. DGIT(S) has notified procedure, formats and standards of issue of Permanent Account Number (PAN) vide Directorate of Income-tax

(Systems) notification 7/2018 dated 27.12.2018. Consequent to this notification, electronically issued digitally signed e-PAN now is a valid mode of issue of PAN.

4. e-PAN also contains enhanced QR code having demographic (Name, DOB, Father’s Name) as well as biometric (scanned photo and signatures) information of the PAN holders which can be accessed and used for PAN verification purposes in off-line mode. Information of enhanced QR code is accessible to user agencies through freely available Android version of ‘PAN QR Code

Hope this information will help you in your Professional endeavors. For further assistance/query, feel free to write to us.

Author: C S Ekta Maheshwari is the Author of this article and is Company Secretary by profession. The Author can be reached at csektamaheshwari14@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this article is solely for information purpose and have been prepared on the basis of relevant provisions and as per the information existing at the time of the preparation.. It doesn’t constitute professional advice or a formal recommendation. The author has undertook utmost care to disseminate the true and correct view and doesn’t accept liability for any errors or omissions. You are kindly requested to verify & confirm the updates from the genuine sources before acting on any of the information’s provided herein above.

Republished with amendments