PAN card is a 10 digit unique alphanumeric code assigned by the Government of India (GoI) to all taxpaying citizens. It is issued by the Income Tax department and is a prerequisite for filing of income tax returns in India.
Different sources of income of any Individual will be filed under a single PAN card, thereby making the transaction smoother for the Government to connect. It is an important document, which can also be used as identity proof for getting a passport issued, apart from other applications like stock trading, opening of bank account etc.
Link Aadhaar Card and PAN Card – Step By Step Guide
AADHAR card is a unique identification card issued by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) that bears a distinctive 12 digit number. This Unique number serves not just as identity proof but also as address proof. It is distinct from other photo identity proofs, as it holds demographic as well as biometric data of individuals and is centrally linked.
An interesting fact is that, if an individual already having an AADHAR card applies for another one, it won’t be issued because of duplication of biometric and demographic data. This will curb the malpractice of identity theft. AADHAR is currently being used to implement many government launched schemes.
Why are PAN card and AADHAR card significant?
Having understood what these two cards signify, there arises a question as to why these two documents are so important. The government is slowly but steadily working towards making all processes digital as part of the Digital India campaign. This initiative aims to control misrepresentation of facts by people for their individual gains, thereby causing a huge loss to the government.
It will not only provide access to documents from anywhere, thereby ensuing efficient working of the government system, but also eliminate the possibility of misrepresentation. People (including government officials) bend and break the system to suit their needs. To avoid this breakdown of government machinery and to bring in more transparency in its transactions, the government has asked all its citizens to link their AADHAR card with their PAN card.
Why is linking of PAN card and AADHAR card important?
Multiple identity proofs of each individual are made which can be misused. Any individual can possess several voter ID or PAN cards, but as said earlier, it is impossible to get a duplicate AADHAR card because of the involvement of bio metrics, which are hard to beat. Hence, duplicity of this photo-identity proof is near to impossible.
This fact is being utilized by the government for bringing transparency in the transactions being done by the citizens of this country. Slowly, the government is making it mandatory to use AADHAR as the key for every transaction.
The scheme was introduced by first linking AADHAR number to an individual’s gas connection and then later to their bank accounts. Now the gas subsidy is deposited directly into your bank account, thereby reducing the black market selling of gas cylinders. Now, the government has made it compulsory to link AADHAR and PAN cards, so that any tax filed can be verified by the account statements.
AADHAR has become mandatory (part of KYC documents) for opening of bank accounts. Multiple bank accounts of an individual will be linked under this one number. Linking of PAN card along with it, will make the work of income tax officials easy. Evading tax with everything digitally connected will be extremely difficult.
Easy steps to link PAN card with AADHAR card
With a few easy steps you can link these two cards.
- Register yourself on the income tax e-filing portal.
- Log on to the portal and a pop-up window will prompt you to link your AADHAR card.
- In case the pop-up notification doesn’t appear, you can go to profile settings and select link AADHAR option.
- Verify all details such as name, DOB, gender etc. (from PAN card) with your AADHAR card.
- Provide AADHAR number in the required space and click ‘link now.’
- A pop-up message will confirm that the AADHAR card and PAN card are linked.
An important point to remember is that the details of both cards should match; else they will not be linked.
