Previous year saw a drive from central government, one wherein it was made mandatory for every individual to link their PAN with their Aadhaar cards by the stipulated deadline. As per the data provided by the government, the centre has accrued ₹600 crores in fines from such individuals.
Centre Amassed ₹600 crores in Fine
Notably, the Ministry of State for Finance has revealed in the parliament that still approximately 11.48 crore PANs remain unlinked with Aadhaar cards as of January 29, 2024.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary disclosed the figure for people with Aadhar Pan card not linked accounts, other than exempted categories, stands at 11.48 crore.
In addition to this, the list of all people regarding the collection of ₹1,000 penalties from individuals who failed to link their PAN and Aadhaar after the deadline were provided.
The Minister said that “The total collection of fees from individuals who have not linked their PAN with Aadhaar is ₹601.97 crore from July 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024″. The deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar was June 30, 2023.
As per the order from the Income Tax Department, the failure to link these two would make PAN inoperative. In addition to this, refund shall not be issued against such PANs and a higher rate of TDS and TCS deduction or collection will be enforced.
In order to reinstate the PAN card operability, individuals have to pay a late fee of ₹1,000. This cana be done in the following steps:
How to Link PAN with Aadhar?
– Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/
– If not already registered, sign up on the portal.
– To pay the penalty, select the ‘e-Pay Tax’ option under ‘Quick Links’.
– Proceed to CHALLAN No./ITNS 280 for submitting the Aadhaar-PAN linking request.
– Pay the penalty under Minor head 500 (Fee) and Major head 0021 [Income Tax (Other than Companies)] in a single challan.
– Choose your preferred payment method.
– Enter your PAN details, assessment year, and address.
– Complete the Captcha code and proceed.
– After payment, log in to the Income Tax e-filing portal with your PAN details, password, and date of birth.
– A pop-up window will appear for linking PAN with Aadhaar. If not, navigate to ‘Profile Settings’ on the Menu bar and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’.
– Enter the required details as per your PAN card.
– Verify your details against those in Aadhaar.
– If details match, input your Aadhaar number and click the “link now” button.
– A pop-up message will confirm the successful linking of PAN with Aadhaar.
