December 31 is the last date to link Aadhaar with PAN or Permanent Account Number. The Income Tax Department in September this year extended the due date for linking the PAN with the Aadhaar by three months, marking the seventh extension in the due date for the public to link the two identification numbers. Aadhaar or Unique Identity Number is a 12-digit number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) whereas PAN is a 10-character alphanumeric number issued by the Income Tax Department.
- December 31 is the deadline to link your PAN and Aadhaar card. While you might be busy preparing plans to celebrate the New Year, the Income Tax Department has made it mandatory for you to connect your Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar before the end of this year.
- The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in September this year extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar card with PAN from September 30 to December 31.
- People failing to meet the deadline will no longer be able to file their income tax returns and their PAN will become inoperative.
Linking Aadhaar to PAN card online
The process of linking your Aadhaar to PAN is a quite easy process online. To do so you need to head to the Income Tax Department’s website. There you need to click on the Link Aadhaar hyperlink button, located inside of the quick links section on the left sidebar.
Clicking the Link Aadhaar button will take you to a new page where you will be required to input your PAN and Aadhaar details. Once filled, you will need to submit the form by checking the consent box and clicking submit. After doing so you can click on Link Aadhaar and you are done.
Linking Aadhaar to PAN card via SMS
If you are not comfortable filling all of these forms online, you can simply link your Aadaar to your PAN by sending an SMS. To do so, you need to sens UIDPAN(Space)(Your 12-digit Aadhaar number)(Space)(10-digit PAN) to either 567678 or 56161, from your registered mobile number.
Keep in mind that once you start the process, the Income Tax Department will validate your details like your name, date of birth, address and more as per your PAN against your Aadhaar.
How to check if your Aadhaar is linked to your PAN already?
If you have linked your Aadhaar to your PAN, however, are not sure if the process has been successful or not, you can check it be heading to the website of the Income Tax Department and clicking on the Link Aadhaar button and then clicking to check linking status button. After clicking it you will be taken to a new page where you will be required to enter your PAN and Aadhaar numbers to check the linking status. If your Aadhaar card is linked you will be shown a confirmation message, which will highlight the last four digits of your Aadhaar number.