Income Tax payer? ALERT! Do this or you won't get refund this year after ITR filing

Income Tax Refund: Weeks after CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra warned that the Income Tax department may consider to cancel the PAN cards of those who fail to link it with Aadhaar card before March 31 deadline, the taxman has said that it will only issue refunds via the e-mode into bank accounts of taxpayers beginning next month. This means that income tax payers will have to link their PAN card with their Aadhaar card to get the refund. In its latest public communication, the income tax department said that refunds will be sent to bank accounts as it will issue "only e-refunds from March 1, 2019." 

Link your PAN with bank account

Link your PAN (permanent account number) with your bank account to get your refund directly, swiftly and securely, the department said in a public advisory issued Wednesday. It added the bank account could be either savings, current, cash or overdraft. The taxpayers used to get the refund either in their bank accounts or through payee cheques till now, depending upon the case. 

The communication also added that the taxpayers can check if their bank account is linked with their PAN by logging onto the e-filing website of the department--"https://www.Incometaxindiaefiling.Gov.In/"https://www.Incometaxindiaefiling.Gov.In. It said those who have not linked their PAN with their bank account should provide it to their home bank branch. The department also asked the taxpayers to validate this over its e-filing website.

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Earlier, the department had said that only 23 crore PAN cards have been linked with Aadhaar against 42 crore that have been issued till date. 

Chandra, while addressing an Assocham event said that all these people can land in trouble as CBDT might even consider to cancel their PAN. "By linking with Aadhaar, We will know whether there are any duplicate PANs or not. And there are certain duplicate PANs... If it is not linked, we may cancel the PAN also," he had warned.

Chandra had added that the process would help the Income Tax department to find out spending pattern and other details of the assessee. He said that it would also be easier to gauge whether the benefits of welfare schemes are availed by eligible persons. The Supreme Court in September last year had declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid. 

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the IT Department to a person, firm or entity.