The deadline to link your Aadhaar card with your Permanent Account Number (PAN) is December 31, 2025. You have only one day left to fulfill this crucial compliance requirement. The Income Tax Department has repeatedly reminded PAN holders that failure to complete Aadhar-PAN linking within the stipulated time could have consequences.
Before linking PAN with Aadhaar, taxpayers are required to pay a penalty of Rs ₹1,000 on the income tax e-filing portal where applicable. This fee must be paid online before submitting the link request.
However, PAN holders who obtained their cards on or after October 1, 2024 using their Aadhaar login ID are exempted from paying ₹1000 fee. Such individuals can link their PAN with Aadhaar free of charge till December 31, 2025, according to ClearTax.
What happens if you fail to link Aadhar and PAN?
If for any reason you fail to pay the applicable late fee and complete the linking process by December 31, your PAN card will cease to function. Once this happens, your PAN cannot be used for a wide range of financial and tax transactions, including filing tax returns, opening new bank or demat accounts, making bulk purchases or tax refunds.
The defaulter also faces problems when issuing debit and credit cards, depositing cash at a bank or post office, or purchasing a bank draft or money order in cash, all of which must be valued at less than ₹50,000 per day. In addition, all bank transactions exceed ₹10,000 will also not be allowed.
PAN and Aadhaar cards are also required to be submitted to receive government services such as applying for a passport, getting subsidies and opening a bank account. Hence, it becomes difficult to access government services when PAN and Aadhaar cards are not linked.
When PAN-Aadhaar is not linked, getting a new PAN card can also be difficult, especially in cases where the old one is damaged or lost. This becomes a problem as it is mandatory to mention the Aadhaar card number while applying for a new PAN card, Mint reported earlier.
Steps to link your Aadhar with PAN
PAN-Aadhaar linking refers to the process of linking a person’s PAN with their Aadhaar number to verify identity and prevent issuance of duplicate PANs. All taxpayers in India are required to ensure that their PAN-Aadhaar linkage remains active.
You can easily do it like this:
- Visit the Income Tax e-filing portal and log in using your valid credentials. Register if you haven’t already.
- Once you are logged into the website, go to ‘My Profile’ and then click on ‘Link Aadhaar’ under ‘Personal Details’.
- Enter your PAN and Aadhaar number and select ‘continue payment through e-pay tax’ and proceed.
- Select the relevant assessment year and payment type as ‘Other Receipts’.
- The relevant amount will be prepaid against the others. Once you’ve done that, click Continue.
- Now a guy will be generated. Select a payment method and pay on the redirected bank website.
- Once the payment is made, linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done on the e-filing portal.
What to do if your PAN stops working?
If you miss the December 31st deadline and your PAN stops working, don’t panic because there is a way to get it working again.
PAN can be re-commissioned within 30 days of completion of the required process. A fee of ₹1000 will continue to apply even after the deadline for PAN activation by communicating Aadhaar number.
Once this process is complete, the PAN is put back into service, usually within a few days of submitting the request.
