Unable to link Aadhaar and PAN? Here's how you can do it in two steps

It has been almost three weeks since that government made Aadhaar mandatory to file income tax returns (ITR) and for a permanent account number (PAN).

PAN number is mandatory to file income tax returns. The rules state that from this year, a taxpayer must provide their Aadhaar number while filing ITR or else their PAN card will be invalidated for life. 

The deadline to do this is June 30, 2017. However, the rules also state that the name on PAN card and Aadhaar must match. 

Speaking to Zeebiz, Archit Gupta, Founder & CEO ClearTax.com, said, "Some people may be facing issues with Aadhaar linkage due to mismatch in name between aadhaar and PAN. This happens in case of middle name which is not expanded in one of the documents or use of initials instead of full name in one or the other document."

How to link PAN with Aadhaar?

Linking the two can be done in two easy steps:

1. Go to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and login with your id and password. 
2. Go to ‘profile settings’ and click on ‘link aadhaar’.

Then you can verify your details like name, surname, date of birth, etc.

To make the process even more simpler, last week an IT official had told PTI that the tax department is planning to introduce an option on the e-filing portal through which taxpayers can choose to link the Aadhaar without changing the name by opting for a One-Time Password (OTP), provided that the year of birth of the person matches in both documents.

ALSO READ: Now, link Aadhaar with PAN with ID proof scan, OTP

Quoting the official, PTI had said, "In case the taxpayer is unable to link PAN with Aadhaar because of discrepancy in name, we are advising them to log in to the Aadhaar website, request for a name change and upload a scanned copy of PAN card as supported proof. This is the simplest way to update name in Aadhaar and only the registered mobile number has to be functional."