PAN Card Holders Alert! Do THIS or pay a fine of Rs 10,000 for non-compliance

New Delhi: If your Permanent Account Number (PAN) is not linked to your Aadhaar Card, your PAN card will be rendered ineffective on April 1, 2022. The income tax administration has extended the deadline for all PAN cards in India to be linked with Aadhaar cards till March 31, 2022. After the deadline, any such PAN cards that are not linked to Aadhaar cards will be declared inoperative.

According to Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, any individual who had a PAN on July 1, 2017 and was eligible for Aadhaar must link their PAN to their Aadhaar. When completing an income tax return, the taxpayer must include their Aadhaar number.

If a PAN becomes inoperative, the income tax agency will consider the individual to have failed to file a PAN and will consequently hold the individual accountable for the consequences. "Where a person whose permanent account number has become inoperative... is required under the Act to furnish, intimate, or quote his permanent account number, it shall be deemed that he has not furnished, intimated, or quoted the permanent account number, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and he shall be liable for all the consequences under the Act for not furnishing, intimating, or quoting the permanent account number," the CBDT stated.

It should be mentioned that obtaining a PAN card is required for numerous purposes, including opening a bank account, purchasing mutual funds or shares, and even performing cash transactions worth more than Rs 50,000.

A penalty of Rs 10,000 can be imposed under Section 272B of the Income Tax Act if the PAN is not quoted or provided as required by the Income Tax Act. A penalty could be imposed under the laws for each instance of noncompliance.

The Union government included a new provision 234H to the Income Tax Act in Budget 2021, requiring individuals to pay a penalty if their PAN and Aadhaar are not linked by the deadline. If a person fails to meet the deadline, he or she would be subject to a fine of up to Rs 1,000.

When the Aadhaar linking process is completed, your inactive PAN cards will become operational. If you are unsure whether your PAN is linked to Aadhaar, you may find out here.