Over 11.5 cr PAN cards deactivated for missing Aadhar-linking deadline: RTI

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) responded to a Right to Information (RTI) request stating that 11.5 crore PAN cards have been deactivated for not being linked with Aadhaar cards by the deadline, The Hindu reported.

Earlier this year, the deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar expired on June 30.

In India, out of the 70.24 crore PAN card holders, 57.25 crore have linked their cards to Aadhar. More than 12 crore PAN cards—of which 11.5 crore have been deactivated—have not been linked to Aadhaar, according to the RTI reply.

Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an activist from Madhya Pradesh, filed the RTI.

The Aadhaar-PAN linking process is carried out automatically for new PAN card applicants at the application stage. It is "mandatory" for PAN holders who were issued their PAN on or before July 1, 2017, to link their PAN with Aadhaar.

According to the RTI reply, as per sub-section (2) of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, it is mandatory for any individual who was assigned a PAN as of July 1, 2017, to "intimate his Aadhaar number."

“This linking of PAN and Aadhaar was required to be done on or before a notified date, failing which PAN becomes inoperative,” the RTI reply also stated.

Furthermore, Section 234H states that if a person who is required to link his PAN with Aadhaar fails to do so on or before a notified date, he must pay a fee.

CBDT has imposed a Rs 1,000 penalty in order to reactivate the PAN card.

“The cost of getting a new PAN card made is ₹91 excluding the Goods and Services Tax. 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?” asked Mr. Gaur. “Government should rethink and extend time limits for at least a year for linking PAN with Aadhaar,” Gaur asserted

CBDT had detailed the consequences of failing to link PAN and Aadhaar by the specified date in a circular dated March 30, 2022. Additionally, it had extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar and PAN at that time to June 2023.