Actually, the previous cutoff for linking PAN and Aadhaar cards of a person who has been assigned a PAN as of July 1, 2017, was March 31, 2022, imposed by the Income-tax Act, 1961. Now, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has elongated the time limit until March 31, 2023. But taxpayers will be needed to pay a fee.
Till today, it is free of cost. But as a result of stretching the time limit, people who are still to link them have to pay Rs 500 up to three months from April 1st, 2022. If they do not, their PAN will become inactive and all operations requiring a PAN would be suspended.
Following submission of Aadhaar to the appropriate authorities and making a payment of a specified fee, the PAN can be allowed operational afterward. CBDT said, “In order to commute the disruptions to the tax payers, a window of opportunity has been offered to the tax payers up to March 31st, 2023 to intimate their Aadhaar to the prescribed authority for Aadhaar-PAN linking without experiencing fallouts. As a result, tax payers will be required to pay a fee of Rs 500 up to three months from April 1st, 2022 and a fee of Rs 1000 after that, while intimating their Aadhaar.”
Further, CBDT made clear that the PAN of the individuals who haven’t intimated their Aadhaar will continue to be functional for the procedures under the Act, like furnishing of return of income, processing of funds, etc, till 31st March 2023. After 31st March 2023, the PAN of taxpayers who wouldn’t intimate their Aadhaar as required, shall become out of order, and all the outcomes under the Act for not furnishing, intimating, or quoting the PAN shall apply to such taxpayers.
The Ministry of Finance emphasized income tax rules 2022 on March 29th which will come into effect from April 1st, 2022. The taxpayer must use his/her registered username and password to access the e-filing portal. Then he can view the ‘Link Aadhaar’ option under the profile settings after logging in. PAN-Aadhaar linking is also available offline by sending the following format to 567678 or 56161. The format is, UIDPAN(space) 12 digit Aadhaar)(space)(10 digit PAN).
The Income-tax department FAQs said that the applicant should pay a fee of Rs 93+ GST as applicable, per the PAN application. If the PAN card is to be dispatched outside India, then the fee for processing the PAN application is Rs 864, whereas the Rs 93 application fee and remaining Rs 771 are dispatch charges.