After paying a penalty of Rs 1,000, beneficiaries can make their PAN cards operable again.
The Income Tax Department has deactivated the PAN cards of many beneficiaries after several warnings and extending the deadline to link them to the Aadhaar card to June 30. The PAN cards have become inoperative with effect from July 1 for those who have not linked them with their Aadhaar but users still have a chance to make their card operative by paying a penalty of Rs 1,000 as notified by the Central Board of Direct Tax, which will take 30 days.
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How to check if a PAN card is activated or not?
The user needs to log in to the official e-filing portal at https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/. Click on the Quick Link option and select the hyperlink “Verify Your PAN Details”. After this, they are required to enter the PAN, Full Name, Date of birth and status, and lastly, enter the Captcha as mentioned in the image and click on the submit button to verify the details of the PAN.
Steps to activate PAN card
Visit the official website https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/ and go ahead with the Aadhaar-Pan linking request. Next, fill in the details and click on CHALLAN NO./ITNS 280 for Aadhaar-PAN linking request submission. Select the mode of payment and enter the PAN by choosing Assessment Year (AY) with a complete address. The last step is to enter the Captcha code and proceed with submitting. It will take one month to get your PAN card activated.
Consequences of an inoperative PAN
Under the Income Tax rule, quoting the PAN is mandatory for certain transactions, like when a DeMat account needs to be opened, investing in a mutual fund or making a fixed deposit. Other than this, tax-deducted sources (TDS) and tax-collected sources (TCS) will be collected and deducted at a higher rate, and no refund can be made against inoperative PANs.
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Reasons behind the mandatory linking of PAN-Aadhaar cards
The main aim of the government behind making PAN-Aadhaar card linking mandatory is to ensure the smooth running of filing taxes and making tax payments. It helps in preventing tax evasion, and the government can ensure that all taxes are paid correctly by the taxpayers. It also reduces fraud, as one can be saved from scams of opening multiple bank accounts, filing multiple income tax returns, and identity theft using a fake identity.
