Government receives Rs 600 crore in fines for delay in PAN-Aadhaar linking

For the delay in connecting PANs with Aadhaar, the government has collected more than Rs 600 crore in penalties; yet, around 11.48 crore Permanent Account Numbers remain unlinked with biometric identities. In a written response to the Lok Sabha, State Minister for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated this. The total collection of fee from persons who have not linked their PAN with Aadhaar is Rs 601.97 crore from July 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024.

The last date for linking PAN with biometric Aadhaar was June 30, 2023.

The Income Tax department had said the PAN of taxpayers who have failed to intimate their Aadhaar shall become inoperative from July 1, 2023 and no refunds would be made against such PANs. Also, TDS and TCS shall be deducted/collected at higher rate.

The PAN can be made operative again by paying a late fee of Rs 1,000.

For those people who still haven't linked their PAN and Aadhaar post-deadline, they can make it operational by linking the two documents by paying the penalty of ₹1,000. After the online process, it would take around one month for the PAN card to become operational again. Follow these steps to re-activate your PAN card.

-Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

-If you are a new user, register on the portal.

-To pay the penalty, click the 'e-Pay Tax' option under the ‘Quick Links’.

-Then look and proceed for CHALLAN No./ITNS 280 for submission of the Aadhaar-PAN linking request.

-Pay the penalty under Minor head 500 (Fee) and Major head 0021 [Income Tax (Other than Companies)] in a single challan.

-Choose your preferred mode of payment.

-Enter your PAN details and the assessment year along with your address.

-Type the Captcha code and proceed.

-After making the payment log in to the Income Tax e-filing portal with your PAN details, password and date of birth.

-A pop-up window will show, to link PAN with Aadhaar. If not, go to ‘Profile Settings’ on the Menu bar and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’.

-Enter the required details like date of birth, gender, etc, as mentioned in the PAN card.

-Verify your details with the ones mentioned in Aadhaar.

-If your details match, enter your Aadhaar number and click on the “link now" button.

-Later, a pop-up message will confirm the successful linking of PAN with Aadhaar.