Fifth extension: Deadline to link Aadhaar-PAN pushed till March'19
What's the story
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Saturday extended the deadline to link PAN with Aadhaar till March 31, 2019, making it the fifth such extension by the government.
The CBDT issued a late night order under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act to extend the deadline after 'considering the matter'.
Notably, June 30 was the revised deadline to link PAN and Aadhaar.
The backdrop
The deadline extension comes after Supreme Court intervention
The fifth extension comes in the backdrop of a Supreme Court direction to extend the deadline from March 31 this year.
The apex court said till a five-judge constitution bench didn't deliver a judgement on petitions challenging Aadhaar, linking the biometric scheme with PAN shouldn't be mandatory.
The government has made quoting Aadhaar compulsory for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR).
Do you know?
Out of 33 crore PANs, only half are Aadhaar-linked
As per available data, out of 33 crore PANs, 16.65 crore have been linked with Aadhar. The first deadline to do so was July 31, 2017. It was extended to August 31 and December 31, then March 31 and June 30 of 2018.
The consequences
But why is linking PAN and Aadhaar so important?
If the government hadn't extended the deadline and you hadn't linked PAN with Aadhaar, the former may have been rendered invalid, stopping you from logging to the Income Tax website or filing ITR.
For linking Aadhaar with PAN, you need to visit incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in, and click on 'Link Aadhaar'.
Fill required details of PAN and Aadhaar and click 'Submit' to link both.