Today one of the basic pre-requisites to file your income tax returns is to link your PAN card to your Aadhar. The process is quite simple and can be done online on the Income Tax website. One of the advantages to the government is that when the Aadhar and the PAN are linked, they are able to track transactions even when they are disaggregated and hence PAN may not be mentioned. Here is how you can link your Aadhar and PAN. While the Supreme Court judgement does leave some activities out of the Aadhar linking mandate, it is still required for tax purposes. Here is how to link Aadhar with PAN online.
How to link your Aadhar card to PAN
As the first step you need to long into the Income Tax Website. You first need to register yourself on the Income Tax website in case you are not already registered. For registration your PAN will be the login and your password can be sent including the special characters and alpha numeric characters in the password. Once that is done you can log-in to the E- Filing portal (incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) and log in with your username and password. In case you have lost or forgotten your password, the Income Tax website also the facility to set your fresh password using an OTP authentication or a special question authentication.
Once you logged into the Income Tax website, the next step is to visit the profile settings. Once you are at the profile-settings then click on 'Link Aadhar' option tab in the drop-down list that is made available to you. Ensure that before you go to the next step, your Aadhar card is ready and your mobile number for receiving the OTP is also readily available with you.
Next you need to click on the “Link Aadhar” option. Once the new window opens, it would display your personal details like name, gender, etc. as per the PAN. Verify it with your Aadhar details and confirm that they match. Especially, the names should match to perfection, although the system does give some leeway for the use of initials. Once it matches, you will get a captcha code (image code) to verify. Enter the captcha code and click on 'Link Aadhar'.
The most important linking factor between your Aadhar Card and the PAN card is the date of birth. This has to be common to both the cards and must match else the Aadhar link will be rejected. Ensure that date of birth and gender mentioned in both the PAN and Aadhaar cards are the same. Once UIDAI verifies the data, the linking gets confirmed.
There is one more important criterion here that the phone numbers on the Aadhaar authentication and the PAN must be the same. In case that is not done, you can link your mobile number to your Aadhar before you start the PAN linking process. Here is how you go about it.
How to link Aadhar card to your mobile number?
Linking Aadhar with your phone number is simple and you can follow some basic steps as under:
Visit your telecom operator with your Aadhar number and card.
Provide your phone number to the operator; you will receive an OTP on your registered mobile number. This one time password (OTP) is to authenticate your identity and ensure that you are the actual owner of the connection.
Provide this OTP to the operator. Once the OTP is confirmed by the operator at the counter, the operator will take your fingerprint for biometric validation. Once that is completed, you will get a SMS, informing you of the linkage.
It is now mandatory to quote your Aadhar number to file income tax return. Linking of Aadhar number with PAN and your phone number has become mandatory, failure of which could result in cancellation of your PAN. Remember that the linking process is quite simple and can be done by you online in less than 10 minutes. To avoid future inconveniences, link your PAN with your Aadhar and phone number. Even after the SC judgement, linking Aadhar and PAN is still a requirement.