The Income Tax Department is offering a new way of linking Aadhaar numbers with PAN on its e-filing website, in a move aimed at increasing compliance

The Income Tax Department is offering a new way of linking Aadhaar numbers with permanent account numbers (PAN) on its e-filing website, in a move aimed at increasing compliance.

Linking Aadhaar with PAN would help the government ensure that subsidies reach only intended beneficiaries as the tax department can confirm with other arms of the government whether a beneficiary of a scheme, for example, LPG subsidy, belongs to the eligible income group.

The Finance Act 2017 made it mandatory for taxpayers to quote their Aadhaar number, issued by the UIDAI to residents of the country, or the enrolment ID of the Aadhaar application form for filing tax returns.

The department’s e-filing website—incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in—has created a link on its home page to facilitate linking of the two. The page requires a person to punch in the PAN number, Aadhaar number and the “exact name as given in the Aadhaar card”.

The other way of doing this is to disclose the PAN in the revised income tax return forms for assessment year 2017-18 (financial year 2016-17).

Linking Aadhaar with PAN helps in establishing to the tax department the identity of the person beyond reasonable doubt, explained Rahul Garg, partner, PwC. Aadhaar has also been made mandatory for applying for PAN with effect from 1 July 2017.