India / Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline extended from Dec 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020

The deadline to link the permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar was extended till 31 March 2020 by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) through an order.

CBDT issued a statement in which it said “The due date for linking of PAN with Aadhaar as specified under sub-section 2 of Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act,1961 has been extended from 31st December, 2019 to 31st March, 2020.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the I-T department, said a notification has been issued in this context.

Earlier, the deadline for this linkage was 31 December 2019 .

This is the eighth time that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline for individuals to link their PAN with Aadhaar.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to tax authorities.

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

The Supreme Court, in September last year, had declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid and held that the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of I-T returns and allotment of PAN.