The deadline to link your Aadhaar and PAN card is just around the corner and now, if you fail to link them before March 31, then you might have to shell out Rs 10,000 as a penalty to the Income Tax department.
The Income Tax (IT) department has now issued a notification stating that those who use unlinked PAN cards will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 under Section 272B of the Income Tax Act to the department.
Earlier, the IT department had said in a notification that all the unlinked PAN cards will become inoperative after March 31.
However, using PAN card as ID proof for non-tax purposes including opening a bank account are exempt for paying penalties, the IT department said.
But there might be complications in some cases. For example, if you have opened a bank account using an inoperative PAN and have made transactions that come under the purview of the Income Tax Act, you will need a PAN card for the same. This means if you make a transaction above Rs 50,000, an operative PAN card is required.
It should also be noted that once the PAN and Aadhaar cards are linked, the PAN card will become valid again and there is no need to apply for a new one, said the IT department.
The Supreme Court, in September 2019, had declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid and held that the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of IT returns and allotment of the PAN.
Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India and PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T department to a person, firm or entity.
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