Income Tax News: The Income Tax Department has mandated that Aadhaar and PAN cards be linked. The PAN cards of those who failed to link them before to that date have had their cards deleted. This deadline expired last year. The PAN card closure causes a lot of issues for taxpayers.
Importance of PAN Card for Income Tax Filing
A taxpayer’s PAN card is needed in order to file their income tax return. You may be wondering how to file an ITR at this point if you did not link your PAN with Aadhaar by the deadline and your PAN stops working. Without a PAN card, submitting taxes can be challenging, but it is still feasible.
Filing Taxes with Aadhaar Instead of PAN
If your PAN card isn’t working, you can still file your taxes using Aadhaar. The process of submitting income tax returns will now pick up steam as the new fiscal year begins on April 1. Income tax returns for the current fiscal year, which concludes on March 31, must be filed by July 31. In other words, taxpayers who do not require an audit can file an ITR until July 31, 2024, without incurring a penalty, for the fiscal year 2023–2024 (assessment year 2024–25).
Filing ITR with Aadhaar OTP
Taxpayers can use the Aadhaar OTP to file an ITR if their PAN is not active. With the aid of Aadhaar OTP authentication, an ITR can be filed in the event of a closed PAN. After that, taxpayers will need to create an electronic verification code using an alternate method—such as online banking or an ATM—in order to validate the return.
You will run into issues with it if your refund is being processed. The Income Tax Department had made it quite clear that taxpayers whose PAN is not connected to Aadhaar will not be able to obtain their income tax refund. June 30, 2023 was the date for integrating PAN with Aadhaar. PAN and Aadhaar can still be connected, but there would be a cost to the taxpayer.
