The central government has made it mandatory to link PAN with Aadhaar to prevent financial fraud. The Income Tax Department has set the deadline for this linking as December 31, 2024. If you do not link your PAN and Aadhaar by December 31, the authorities will deactivate your PAN card. This will cause problems in paying taxes, making transactions, and more.
According to reports, the central government will soon announce fines for linking PAN with Aadhaar. Some media organizations claim that the Income Tax Department will start imposing charges for those who submit their documents after December 31. In this article, we will explain how to link PAN and Aadhaar correctly and provide a brief overview of this matter.
Fine for Linking PAN-Aadhaar
The government had made linking PAN with Aadhaar free until June 30, 2023. However, now a fine of Rs 1,000 must be paid as a late fee. Earlier, the fine was Rs 500, but it has now been increased to Rs 1,000. This means you will now have to pay Rs 1,000 to link your Aadhaar with PAN.
How Many People Were Fined
Over 2 crore taxpayers linked their PAN with Aadhaar after the free deadline ended. The government has collected Rs 2,125 crore as a penalty from them. Section 234H of the Income Tax Act, 1961, mandates that a person must provide Aadhaar information as per subsection (2) of section 139AA. If they fail to do so, they will have to pay a fine of up to Rs 1,000.
How Many PAN Cards Are There in the Country
As of March 2024, more than 74 crore people in the country held PAN cards. Of these, 60.5 crore people have linked their PAN with Aadhaar. According to an RTI response from November last year, the CBDT deactivated 11.5 crore PANs due to non-linking with Aadhaar.
How to Link PAN with Aadhaar
- Go to the Income Tax websites: eportal.incometax.gov.in or incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
- Register by entering your PAN number in the User ID field.
- A pop-up window will appear to link PAN with Aadhaar.
- If the pop-up doesn’t appear, go to Profile Settings and click on “Link Aadhaar.”
- Check your PAN card details (name, date of birth, gender) and match them with your Aadhaar.
- Click on the “Link Now” button.
- After this, a message will appear confirming that your PAN has been linked with Aadhaar.