Over 17cr PAN cards to become inoperative after March 31

The Income Tax Department on Friday informed that iftaxpayers do not link their PAN card with their Aadhar cards by March 31, 2020,then their PAN card will become inoperative. Inoperative PAN means one will notbe able to do several financial transactions where PAN is required.

The IT department in the past had given multiple deadlines for linking PAN with Aadhaar and on every occasion, the deadlines were extended. "However, March 31, 2020, deadline will not be extended," an official release said.

As per reports around 17.57 crore, PAN card holders are yet to link their PAN accounts with Aadhaar.

Reportedly, by January 27, 2020, more than 30.75 crore PANcards were linked with Aadhaar.

The IT department notification further said that for thosewho link their PAN cards with Aadhaar after March 31, 2020, their PAN cardswill become inoperative "from the date of intimation of Aadhaar number."

According to the Income Tax Department, 18 financial transactions have been specified where quoting of PAN is mandatory by the individual. For linking Aadhaar with PAN card, one may visit the e-filing website of the IT Department and may use log-in credentials or even without logging. PAN and Aadhaar linking can be done even without linking.

"PAN and Aadhar linking is a must for filing Income tax Returns," the IT department notification added.