If your Permanent Account Number (PAN) is not linked to your Aadhaar card, it will become useless from March 31, 2021. The income tax department has fixed a deadline within which all PAN cards in India must be linked to Aadhaar. PAN cards which are not linked to Aadhaar would be useless and declared “inoperative” after the deadline ends.
1. Income tax department notice
The income tax department has said that inoperative PAN cardholders will have to face consequences under the Income Tax Act for not furnishing PAN.
2. PAN cardholders may attract penalty of Rs 10,000
After the deadline ends, PAN holders will not only be treated as non-PAN cardholders but may also be fined a penalty of Rs 10,000 under Section 272B of the Income Tax Act.
3. No cash deposit without PAN card
If you go to a bank and try to open an account or deposit/withdraw cash above Rs 50,000 you need to submit a copy of your PAN card. If you give wrong or inoperative PAN card then you could be fined Rs 10,000.
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4. Purpose of PAN card
Having a PAN card is mandatory for several purposes like opening a bank account, buying mutual funds or shares, and even making cash transactions of over Rs 50,000.
5. How to link PAN card and Aadhaar card?
For Aadhaar PAN linking through an SMS, one needs to send an SMS at 567678 or 56161.
6. What to write in SMS
The SMS body must be as follows
UIDAIPAN(12digit Aadhaar number) space (10 digit PAN Number).
This means if someone has an Aadhaar Card number ABCDXXXXXXXXXX and PAN Card number ABCXXXXXXX then the format of the SMS will be “UIDAIPANABCDXXXXXXXXXX ABCXXXXXXX”.
