The government today extended the deadline for linking the Permanent Account Number (PAN) to Aadhaar by another three months.
“Central Government extends the last date for linking of Aadhaar number with PAN from 31st March, 2021 to 30th June, 2021, in view of the difficulties arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Income Tax department tweeted.
In another tweet, the I-T tweeted, “Date for issue of notice under section 148 of Income-tax Act,1961, passing of consequential order for direction issued by the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) and processing of equalisation levy statements also extended to 30th April, 2021”.
The government has given several extensions since July 2017, the first such deadline, in order to facilitate the process.
PAN and Aadhaar linkage will help eliminate duplication and also aid tax assessment and administration.
PAN is mandatory for a host of financial transactions, including the opening of a bank account, deposit of cash in bank account, opening of Demat accounts, transaction of immovable properties, and dealing in securities.
The PAN card also works as photo identification and is accepted by all government and non-government institutions.
Since Aadhaar is based on biometrics and cannot be obtained based on any other identification document, linking the two is important for tax administration.
Surjitt Sahani
