How to: Link Your PAN to Your Aadhaar and Check if Your PAN is Already Linked

Your PAN (Permanent Account Number) and Aadhaar cards are two photo IDs that serve as important identity and address proofs. You require them for a variety of reasons such as to get a loan, pay your taxes or invest. While the PAN is an alphanumeric 10-digit code, your Aadhaar number is of 12 digits as per India’s national registration system. 

It is important to know how to link Aadhaar with PAN and also to check if your PAN has already been linked. This is because the government has mandated that your PAN will not be operative if it remains unlinked by April 1, 2023 as per section 139AA of the IT Act, 1961.

Take a look at how to go about this process and how to be sure that you have linked your PAN in the right way.

Who Needs to Link Aadhaar with PAN and Why?

If you have received your PAN number on July 1, 2017, it is compulsory for you to link your Aadhaar with your PAN. The government has made this link mandatory so one person has only one PAN and one Aadhaar number. This is to prevent problems of bogus or duplicate PAN numbers arising out of:

• One person having multiple PAN numbers
• One PAN number being allotted to different people

Without having an operative PAN, filing your taxes, getting your refund and accessing your pending refunds will be a problem. This will also result in you paying taxes at a higher rate.

While the earlier deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN was March 31, 2022, you can now enjoy an extended deadline of March 31, 2023. However, this extension comes with a small penalty fee.

How to Link Aadhaar with PAN

There are two steps to linking your Aadhaar with your PAN. The first is paying the fee, which you can do in two ways:

• Through the Protean (NSDL) Portal: This is valid for all

Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Go to the income tax e-filing portal,

https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/

2. Under Quick Links, select ‘Link Aadhaar’
3. Add your PAN number and Aadhaar and click on ‘Continue’
4. When you see the option ‘Pay Through e-Pay Tax’, click ‘Continue’
5. Next, choose the hyperlink to go to the Protean (NSDL) Portal
6. When the page loads, see Challan No./ITNS 280 and click ‘Continue’
7. Choose Tax applicable as 0021andType of Payment as 500 (Other Receipts)
8. Choose the assessment year as 2023-24
9. Add the other details such as your address, email and mobile number and click ‘Proceed’

After you pay the fees, you can proceed to request linking your Aadhaar with PAN after around 5 days.

• Through the e-Pay Tax Service: This is only for those who have a bank account in banks that are permitted for e-Pay Tax such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, etc. If you do, follow these steps:

1. Go to the income tax e-filing portal,
2. Log in, go to the Profile section and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’
3. Add both your Aadhaar number and PAN number
4. Click on ‘Continue to Pay Through e-Pay Tax’
5. Confirm your PAN and enter your mobile number
6. Enter the OTP you receive and the e-Pay Tax page will open
7. Find the Income Tax section and click on ‘Proceed’
8. Choose ‘AY (2023-24)’andType of Paymentas‘Other Receipts’andclick on ‘Continue’
9. You will now see the amount prefilled, so click on ‘Continue’
10. Once you see the challan, select your payment mode
11. You can now pay via your bank’s net banking portal

You can now proceed immediately.

To go forward, you will need to validate your Aadhaar. There are 2 ways to proceed:

• After Logging in to the Income Tax e-filing Portal

Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Either go to Personal Details and choose ‘Link Aadhaar’ or click on the dashboard and under the Profile Section, click on ‘Link Aadhaar’
2. Then add your Aadhaar number and click ‘Validate’

• Without Logging in to the Income Tax e-filing Portal:

Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Navigate to ‘Link Aadhaar’ on the Quick Links section
2. Then add your Aadhaar and PAN numbers and click ‘Validate’
3. Next enter the required information such as your phone number and name
4. Click on ‘Link Aadhaar’
5. Add the OTP you receive and click ‘Validate’

Click on ‘Ok’ when you see the pop-up.

The next step in this process is to check if your payment has gone through. When you see the pop-up revealing that your payment details have been verified, you can submit the Aadhaar-PAN link request. Click ‘continue’ when you see the pop-up.

Verify the details regarding your name, gender and date of birth and more and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’. Click on ‘Ok’ when you see another pop-up that your request has been sent for verification.

What to Do if Your PAN is Linked to Another Aadhaar

During this process, if you see a pop-up that reveals your PAN is already linked to another Aadhaar number, you can contact your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. You will need to request delinking your Aadhaar with the incorrect PAN number by filling a form. You can get the officer’s contact information by adding your PAN and mobile number here: https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/iec/foservices/#/pre-login/knowYourAO

How to Check Your PAN Card Status to See if the Link is Successful

To check your PAN card status to see if it has been successfully linked with your Aadhaar, follow these steps:

1. Go to the income tax e-filing portal,
2. On the left, under Quick Links, click on ‘Link Aadhaar Status ’
3. Next re-enter your PAN and Aadhaar and click ‘View Link Aadhaar Status’

If the validation is through, you will see a message stating that your PAN and Aadhaar are linked. If not, you will receive a message that it is in progress.

Keeping this information in mind, you can proceed with linking your PAN and Aadhaar. Failing to link your PAN to your Aadhaar has serious consequences. For one, your PAN will become inactive, and you may be required to pay a penalty. So, follow these processes and rest easy knowing your PAN is linked to the right Aadhaar.