The government has asked all PAN holders who had obtained the PAN using an Aadhaar enrollment ID to replace it with their original Aadhaar number by December 31, 2025. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a notification asking certain PAN holders to inform their Aadhaar number on or before December 31, 2025. According to the notification issued, all the PAN holders who obtained their PAN by giving the enrolment ID of their Aadhaar application on or before October 1, 2024, are required to inform their Aadhaar number to the income tax department. These PAN holders must inform their Aadhaar number to the Income Tax Department by December 31, 2025, as per the notification.
The notification states, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2A) of section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby notifies that every person who has been allotted permanent account number on the basis of Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form filed prior to the 1st day of October, 2024, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to the Principal Director General of Income tax (Systems) or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by the said authorities on or before the 31st day of December, 2025 or such date as may be specified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in this behalf.”
This notification applies to PAN holders who were allotted PAN on or before October 1, 2024, on the basis of the Aadhaar enrolment ID.
The notification was issued on April 3, 2025.
How to inform Aadhaar number to the Income Tax Department
Naveen Wadhwa, Vice President of Advisory and Research, Taxmann.com, says, “It is likely that the same method of PAN-Aadhaar linking will be used to inform the Aadhaar number to the Income Tax Department by specified PAN holders. The PAN holders will be required to visit the Tax Department’s e-filing portal and follow the process of PAN-Aadhaar linking. It is hoped that there will be no penalty applicable on linking of PAN-Aadhaar by specified PAN holders. However, further clarity from the Income Tax Department would be helpful for such PAN holders.”
Sneha Padhiar, Partner, Bhuta Shah & Co LLP – a tax consulting firm says, “Alternatively, the taxpayers may visit the designated PAN Service Centre of NSDL eGov or UTIITSL and fill prescribed form along with copy of PAN card, Aadhar Card and prescribed fee, (if applicable). They may also authenticate Aadhar biometrically at the Service Centre. Biometric authentication shall be compulsory in case of a mismatch in PAN and Aadhar data. “Currently, there is a penalty for linking PAN with Aadhaar, as the last date for doing so for general PAN holders was June 30, 2023. Consequently, any PAN holder who has not linked PAN with Aadhaar number and does so now would have to pay a penalty to do so. However, the persons who obtained PAN using just the Aadhaar enrollment ID did not have the original Aadhaar number at that time and, therefore, could not have linked the two by the deadline of June 30, 2023. Therefore, logically, these PAN holders should be exempted from having to pay this penalty now.These PAN holders have not informed their Aadhaar number to the. It is important to note that the last date of June 30, 2023, to link PAN-Aadhaar was for those taxpayers who already had their PAN and Aadhaar.
What will happen if Aadhaar enrollment ID is not replaced with Aadhaar in the Income Tax Department’s records by December 31, 2025?
The notification has mentioned that PAN holders must inform their Aadhaar number to the Income Tax Department by December 31, 2025 or any other date as specified by the central government. However, it is not mentioned what will happen if PAN holder fails to provide their Aadhaar number to the Income Tax Department.
Wadhwa says, “It is likely that PAN may become inoperative from January 1, 2026, if the Aadhaar number is not intimated to the Income Tax Department by December 31, 2025. However, further clarity from the Income Tax Department would be helpful in this regard.”
Padhiar list out the consequences of not linking of PAN-Aadhar by December 31, 2025:
- A penalty of Rs 1,000 is payable on belated PAN-Aadhar linking in case of other taxpayers. CBDT Notification is silent on the applicability of a penalty on specified taxpayers from 01.01.2026 (or such date as prescribed by CBDT).
- PAN will become inoperative on account of non-linking with Aadhaar number.
- Any ITR already filed without this linkage is deemed to be invalid.
- No refunds may be processed against the inoperative PAN.
- No return of income can be filed with an inoperative PAN.
- TDS / TCS may be deducted/collected at a higher rate.
- Credit for TDS / TCS may not be reflected in Form 26AS and hence, claim of such TDS / TCS may not be sustainable.
- Taxpayers will not be able to submit Form 15G / Form 15H.
- Interest on refunds may not be granted to taxpayers whose PAN is inoperative.
