New
Delhi, June 28
The
government has made it mandatory to link existing Aadhaar numbers with PAN of
taxpayers with effect from July 1. Amending income tax rules and notifying the
same, the government has made quoting of the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar or the
enrolment ID a must at the time of application of permanent account number
(PAN).
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley through an amendment to tax proposals in the Finance Bill
for 2017-18 had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and
provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to check tax evasion through use of
multiple PAN cards.
The
revenue department said “every person who has been allotted PAN as on July 1,
2017, and who in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section
139AA is required to intimate his Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar
number to the principal director general of income tax (systems) or DGIT
(systems)”.
Besides,
it entrusted principal DGIT (systems) or DGIT (systems) with specifying the
formats and standards along with procedure for verification of documents filed
with PAN application or intimation of Aadhaar number.
The
rules will come into force from July 1, the revenue department said while
amending Rule 114 of the I-T Act, which deals in application for allotment of
PAN.
As
many as 2.07 crore taxpayers have already linked their Aadhaar with PAN.
There
are over 25 crore PAN card holders in the country while Aadhaar has been issued
to 111 crore people.
Earlier
this month, the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of an I-T Act provision
making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN cards and ITR filing, but had put
a partial stay on its implementation till a Constitution bench addressed the
issue of right to privacy.
Pursuant
to this, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had said the linking of
Aadhaar and PAN would be a “must” for filing of income tax returns (ITR) and
obtaining PAN from July 1.
While
Aadhaar is a biometric authentication issued by the UIDAI, PAN is a 10-digit
alphanumeric number alloted by the I-T department to individuals and entities.
PTI
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