Income Tax Return Filing 2018: Aadhaar Number is Mandatory For Filing ITR, Linking of Aadhaar and PAN Card is Optional

"Linking of PAN with Aadhaar is not mandatory but recommended to keep yourself ready if it gets mandatory and avoid unnecessary delays."

The income tax filing season has started and the question on many people’s mind is whether they still need to link the Aadhaar number with their PAN card. The confusion has been created due to multiple deadlines been given on the matter of linking of two numbers.

Consider this: Initially, the deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN was till 31st August 2017. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) later extended date till 31st December 2017. Now, the Supreme Court judgement is awaited on the contentious issue as the five-judge constitution bench- comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan- said in one of the hearings that the deadline for linking of Aadhaar with various services is extended till judgement is pronounced by the constitution bench.

Having said that you do not need to link Aadhaar with PAN but you still need to quote your Aadhaar number while filing income tax return. Sudhir Kaushik, co-founder and CFO, TaxSpanner.com, says, “Currently the Aadhaar card or acknowledgment number of Aadhaar card is mandatory for filing return. However, linking of PAN with Aadhaar is not mandatory but recommended to keep yourself ready if it gets mandatory and avoid unnecessary delays in processing return.”

How does linking of Aadhaar with PAN help taxpayers? Kaushik, says, “The return processing gets delayed thus refund also if any. We recommend to link at the earliest because it can become mandatory again keeping in view the next filing due date is approaching fast. The late fee of Rs 5000 would be imposed if filed after July 31, 2018.”

He adds, “If there is any error in PAN and the TDS is getting deposited in the wrong PAN than the credit of the same may also be difficult. This happens where the taxpayer has multiple PAN due to ignorance. It leads to penalties also.”

However, Non-resident Indians, people living in Assam, Meghalaya, and Jammu and Kashmir and very senior citizens do not need to quote Aadhaar in their income tax return forms

Separately, the government on Tuesday, May 1, clarified that Aadhaar number is not mandatory for a mobile SIM card and can be issued with alternative identification proofs.