The Central Board of Direct Taxes plans to make Aadhaar authentication compulsory for a new Permanent Account Number (PAN) card from July 1, officials said.
“The move for Aadhaar-based verification aligns with the digitalisation drive and efforts to ensure accountability and compliance in tax filing,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be identified.
Currently, an application for a PAN can be made using name, proof of date of birth or any other identification, although existing PAN owners have been asked to link it with Aadhaar. For existing PAN card holders, the last date to link Aadhaar with PAN is December 31, 2025, without penalty. PAN not linked with Aadhaar will become inoperative from next year.
The income-tax portal will activate the new requirement for applications from July.
The I-T authorities had made Aadhaar linkage mandatory after detecting issuance of multiple PANs to a single individual or use of PANs registered in names of others to evade tax.
In some cases, multiple PANs were used for fake goods and services tax registration.
As of March 2024, there were more than 740 million PAN card holders in India, out of which 605 million were linked with Aadhaar.
Source #ET
