Here is why PAN card holders could be fined Rs 10,000 for not linking it with Aadhaar by Mar 31

New Delhi, Mar 02: If you fail to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card within the deadline of March 31, then be ready to cough up a fine of Rs 10,000 on providing inoperative PAN for a financial transaction.

The income tax department had earlier announced that all unlinked PAN cards will be declared as "inoperative" and now it has issued a new notification saying that such PAN card holders shall face consequences under the Income Tax Act for not furnishing PAN.

Section 139 AA (2) of the I-T Act stipulates that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate their Aadhaar number to tax authorities.

It also said that an amendment has been made to the Income Tax rules with the insertion of Rule 114AAA, stipulating the "manner of making permanent account number inoperative".

If you were to miss the deadline to link the two, you will also be liable for all the consequences under the IT Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the PAN, which includes paying higher income tax.

Further, as per rules, any person who quotes a cancelled or inoperative PAN is liable to pay a fine of up to Rs 10,000 under section 272B of the Income Tax Act.

While Aadhaar is issued by UIDAI to a resident, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the tax department to a person, firm or entity.

The same set of information is required to get a new PAN.

As per data, over 120 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued in the country and about 41 crore PAN numbers have been generated.

Out of these, more than 22 crore PANs are linked with Aadhaar.

Steps to link Aadhaar with PAN

Just go to incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and click on the link on the left pane - Link Aadhaar

Provide PAN, Aadhaar no. and ENTER NAME EXACTLY AS GIVEN IN AADHAAR CARD (avoid spelling mistakes) and submit. After verification from UIDAI which is the government website for Aadhaar, the linking will be confirmed.

On logging in to the site, a pop-up window will appear prompting you to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card. If you don't see the popup, go to the blue tab on the top bar named 'Profile Settings' and click on 'Link Aadhaar'.

Details such as name, date of birth and gender will already be mentioned as per the details submitted at the time of registration on the e-Filing portal. Verify the details on screen with the ones mentioned on your Aadhaar card.

If the details match, enter your Aadhaar card number and captcha code and click on the "Link now" button.

A pop-up message will inform you that your Aadhaar card has been successfully linked to your PAN card.