IT Amendment Rules Making Aadhaar Mandatory For PAN Application From July-1, Notified [Read Notification]

The Income Tax Amendment Rules [Income –tax (17th Amendment) Rules, 2017] which makes quoting Aadhaar mandatory for PAN Application from July-1, has been notified.

As per the amended sub-rule 5 of Rule 114, from 01.07.2017, for a PAN card application in 49A, the Aadhaar Number must be quoted. In case the Aadhaar number has not been allotted, then the Aadhaar enrolment number must be provided.

Amended sub-rules 5 and 6 of Rule 114 reads as follows;

“(5) Every person who has been allotted permanent account number as on the 1st day of July, 2017 and who in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 139AA is required to intimate his Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or Director- General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by the said authorities.

(6) The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or Director- General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the formats and standards alongwith procedure, for the verification of documents filed with the application under sub-rule (4) or intimation of Aadhaar number in sub-rule (5), for ensuring secure capture and transmission of data in such format and standards and shall also be responsible for evolving and implementing appropriate security, archival and retrieval policies in relation to furnishing of the application forms for allotment of permanent account number and intimation of Aadhaar number”;

Section 139AA was inserted to the Income Tax Act which mandates quoting of Aadhar number for filing income tax returns and applying for PAN from 01.07.2017 onwards. In Benoy Viswam Case,  the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the aforementioned provision. However, the operation of the provisions was partially stayed till a verdict is delivered by the constitutional bench and noted that those who do not have an Aadhar card are not mandated to apply for one till the Bench delivers a verdict. However, the  Court also noted that those who do have an Aadhar card must link it to their PAN card.