Last Updated on 4 weeks by Amiya Nandy
Are you still waiting to pair your PAN with Aadhaar? If you did not make it to the due date, then you are surely in for some trouble. Talk about your tax filings only, the consequences you are likely to encounter range from the freezing of banking services to blocking of investments. And this list is quickly growing longer, even though a lot of people do not totally understand it yet.
Nothing to worry about, the Department of Income Tax will mark your PAN as “inoperative”, in case of its non-linkage with Aadhaar. The following are the situations that the decision entails:
- If that is the case, you will not be able to file your tax return
- Even if your claim is valid, you will not get your tax returns
- TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) is your tax
- The bank and Demat accounts cannot be opened
- You will notice suspiciously high transactions such as real estate, mutual funds, or stock market on your own
But remember that your previous financial details may be considered as having been influenced by an inactive PAN due to the whole situation.
Will They Fine You?
Yes. An amount of ₹1,000 is needed to be paid as a penalty if you are late in renewing your PAN. The transaction must be done on the income tax portal prior to the start of the linking process.
Only after this payment can you use the official PAN-Aadhaar link page to submit your request.
Can You Still Link It?
Yes — but it’s too late now. The PAN can be revived by making the payment and linking it at the earliest. Follow these steps:
- Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal
- Pay ₹1,000 penalty through Challan No./ ITNS 280
- Wait for 4-5 days for the payment to clear
- Visit the new PAN-Aadhaar linking page and fill the form with the required details
- Use the OTP verification to complete the process
With the successful linking, the PAN will be usable again, but your transactions might still be affected due to the delay, which will probably affect your financial activities and compliance score.
Why the Government Is Strict
The Aadhaar-PAN link is not an isolated effort in the cleanup of tax evasion alone, it is also part of the broader effort to bring more transparency to financial transactions and eliminate duplicate PAN cards. Besides the tax revenue motive, the banking system in India is also traveling on the digital finance path, and the banks are unable to trace the system in case the cards are not re-associated individually.
At present, the results have been extended beyond taxes — apart from taxes, while banks, NBFCs, and investment firms are now also in the company of the government and treat PANs as high risks, if they are not linked.
If your PAN card is still not connected to Aadhaar, you’re already out of India’s financial system. The risks are there – from services that are not accessible, higher taxes and the ones who have not received refunds due to the illegal nature of the situation
Don’t wait for your bank or any broker to alert you. This opportunity is still open for you, but the daily penalty makes the situation only worse, and your financial identity has been compromised.
Amiya Nandy, who is a content creator, digital specialist, and a writer at Etechon, considers herself technology, but has the aspiration to be one. She has to an extent been successful in finding out her aim and that is to explore the latest technologies and innovations and make use of them in her work. Amiya of course doesn’t limit himself to just informative content articles and entertaining technological guides, he also writes reviews and all sorts of articles on new technologies. He works in various levels of writing complexity which makes it easier for non tech inclined people to understand better the topics covered. His contents are always clear, creative , well researched and contain information that is of good quality for the purpose of inspiring the audience.
