PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline ends on March 31, here's a stepwise guide to do it online

The deadline to link your PAN to your Aadhaar ends on March 31 (Wednesday). The Central government had extended the deadline to link PAN Card with Aadhaar to March 31, 2021, from the previous deadline of June 30, 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, if the PAN is not linked with the Aadhaar number by March 31, 2021, then the PAN will become inoperative from April 1, 2021.

Defaulters, who fail to link the two, may have to cough up a fine of up to Rs 1,000 as per Section 272B of the Income Tax Act. Besides, any individual found to be using an invalid PAN can up to Rs 10,000.

Here is a step-wise guide on how to do it online:

Step 1: An individual first has to register on the official  tax e-filing online portal

Step 2: After registration, the person is required to fill in the login details such as login ID, password and date of birth. 

Step 3: After that, a pop up would emerge asking you to link your PAN card with Aadhar, if not then click on “profile settings” and then “Link Aadhaar”.

Step 4: After the above step, a page would open with auto-filled details of an individual. 

Step 5: If the details match, enter your Aadhaar card number and click on the “Link Aadhaar” button.

Step 6: After completing all the steps you can see a message come stating that the linking has been done successfully.