The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) responded to a Right to Information (RTI) request stating that 11.5 crore PAN cards were deactivated for not being linked to Aadhaar cards by the deadline, according to The Hindu news report.
The last date to link PAN with Aadhaar expired on June 30 earlier this year.
PAN card holders who received their cards after July 1, 2017, had their Aadhaar automatically linked to them. Nevertheless, under sub-section (2) of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, individuals who received PAN cards prior to that date were required to manually link it.
“Of the 70.24 crore PAN card holders in India, 57.25 crore have connected their PAN cards to Aadhaar. More than 12 crore PAN cards-of which 11.5 crore have been deactivated-have not been connected to Aadhaar,” according to the RTI reply to Madhya Pradesh-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur, stated The Hindu news report.
How to check Aadhaar card, PAN card linking status online
The PAN card can be reactivated by paying a Rs 1,000 fine.
According to The Hindu, Gaur objected to this, stating that a new PAN card costs Rs 91 (GST excluded). “Then how can the government impose a 10-fold fine for getting the PAN card reactivated? Also, how will people whose PAN cards have gotten deactivated file income tax? Government should rethink and extend time limits for at least a year for linking PAN with Aadhaar,” Gaur told The Hindu.
Step 1: Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal by using this link: https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
Step 2: Click ‘Quick Links’ on the left side of the page. Click on ‘Link Aadhaar Status’.
Step 3: Enter your 10-digit PAN number and 12-digit Aadhaar number.
Step 4: Then click on ‘View Link Aadhaar Status’.
Your Aadhaar number will be shown if it has already been linked. If Aadhaar is not linked, you must take the required actions to link the two.
If your request to link PAN and Aadhaar is pending with UIDAI for validation, you will need to check the status later.
You may need to contact the Jurisdictional AO to delink Aadhaar and PAN if:
- your Aadhaar is linked with some other PAN
- your PAN is linked with some other Aadhaar
- On successful validation, a message will be displayed regarding your Link Aadhaar status.