Aadhaar-PAN: Four simple ways to link before June 30

Just two days left for the taxpayers to link existing Aadhaar numbers with permanent account number. 

The government on Wednesday has made it mandatory to quote 12 -digit biometric Aadhaar or the enrolment ID  at the time of application of PAN. The taxpayers have given time till July 1. 

On March 21, the government had made the Aadhaar card mandatory to file for income tax returns and also to apply for a permanent account number (PAN). The card which was till now only an optional document while filing income tax return but PAN number was mandatory to file returns. 

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According to a report by PTI, as many as 2.07 crore taxpayers have already linked their Aadhaar with PAN. There are over 25 crore PAN card holders in the country while Aadhaar has been issued to 111 crore people.

With just two days in hand, we tell you four ways to link your Aadhaar:

From official website if you are registered

1. Just go to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in abd click on 'Link Aadhaar' option. 
2. Once done, provide you PAN, Aadhaar number and enter name exactly as given on Aadhaar card and submit. After verification from Unique Identification Authority of India the linking will be confirmed. 

From official website if you are not registered

1. Log on to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. if are not already registered at the income tax e-filing portal then do so this time. Then log in to the portal by entering your Login ID, password and date of birth,

2. After logging, a pop up window will appear prompting you to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card. If a pop up does not appear, click on a blue tab named ‘Profile Settings’ and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’.

3. All your details like name, date of birth and gender will already mentioned there, verify the details on screen with ones mentioned on your Aadhaar card. 

4. If the details match, enter your Aadhaar card number and captcha code and click on the “Link now” button.

5. On completion of the process, a pop-up message will inform you about successful linkage. 

SMS

To make things more easier, I-T department in May issued an advertisement on a leading national dailies guiding the tax payers that an Aadhaar can now be linked with their PAN through SMS-based facility.

A taxpayer can link Aadhar with PAN by sending an SMS to either 567678 or 56161.

Mismatch names

When the government first announced that linking Aadhaar with PAN is mandatory, many taxpayers started facing various issues due to mismatch in name. 

According to the Ministry of Finance, in case of any minor mismatch in Aadhaar name provided by taxpayer when compared to the actual data in Aadhaar, One Time Password (Aadhaar OTP) will be sent to the mobile registered with Aadhaar. 

Taxpayers need to ensure that the date of birth and gender in PAN and Aadhaar are exactly same. 

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In a rare case where Aadhaar name is completely different from name in PAN, then the linking will fail and taxpayer will be prompted to change the name in either Aadhaar or in PAN database.

There is no need to login or be registered on E-filing website. This facility can be used by anyone to link their Aadhaar with PAN.

"This facility is also available after login on the e-filing website under Profile settings and choose Aadhaar linking. The details as per PAN will be pre-populated. Enter Aadhaar no. and ENTER NAME EXACTLY AS GIVEN IN AADHAAR CARD (avoid spelling mistakes) and submit," Ministry added.