The PAN Card, till the Aadhaar came along, was the know-all and be-all of documents for Indians when it tangled with the bureaucracy. Whether it’s opening a new bank account, filling Income Tax Returns, making large financial transactions, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card is mandatory. Or is it?
The Income Tax Department does provide two other options when the PAN Card.
Aadhaar
While the Aadhaar has been the subject of much controversy, under new rules that came into effect in September, you can now swap your Aadhaar for your PAN card whenever you need to tangle with the Income Tax department.
Those who have a PAN card instead of Aadhaar can use it in lieu of PAN. In such cases, the IT department will automatically generate a new PAN linked to the aforementioned Aadhaar card. Those who have linked their PAN and Aadhaar can also use the latter.
So whenever you are opening a new bank account or making a cash transaction over Rs 50,000 you can simply quote your Aadhaar.
Form 60: Those who don’t have a PAN card can also fill Form 60 under IT Rules, 1962.
Formed 60 is a signed declaration stating that one doesn’t have a PAN card and your income is below taxable limits. Only those without a PAN card are allowed to fill this form. However, if do have a PAN card and still file this, you could be fined Rs 10,000 under Section 272 B of the Income Tax Act.
