PAN-Aadhaar Link Deadline:  The last date for PAN-Aadhaar linking has been extended. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a press conference today announced that now PAN Card-Aadhaar Card linking will be allowed till June 30, 2020. The government’s decision to extend the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadlines comes amid new Coronavirus outbreak that has infected over 500 people across India. The extension in PAN-Aadhaar link deadline comes as good news for those PAN cardholders who have not yet reportedly linked their PAN with Aadhaar. They now get three more months to complete the process, which takes just a few minutes.

The previous deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar was March 31, 2020. You can link PAN and Aadhaar by visiting e-Filing website of the Income Tax Department (https://www1.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-FilingGS/Services/LinkAadhaarHome.html?lang=eng). For PAN-Aadhaar linking, you must ensure that name, date of birth and gender mentioned by you are same on both PAN and Aadhaar. The Aadhaar number and the name on Aadhaar card should be exactly the same as printed on the Aadhaar card.

PAN and Aadhaar can also be linked through SMS to 567678 or 56161 through your registered mobile number. The format of the SMS is: UIDPAN<SPACE><12 Digit Aadhaar Number><SPACE><10 Digit PAN> For Example: UIDPAN 100023456789 XXYZ0123X.

As per income tax rules, PAN Aadhaar linking is mandatory. For new PAN seekers, the Income Tax Department allows the creation of Aadhaar-based instant PAN on the e-filing website. “Aadhaar-based instant PAN allotment service is to allot PAN in near-real time. You are required to quote a valid Aadhaar number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and is not linked with any PAN. The e-KYC data of that Aadhaar number is exchanged with the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI). After due process of e KYC data in Income-tax database, you get a PAN,” the Income Tax Department says on its website.