New Delhi: The taxman will “suo motu” allot a fresh PAN to a person who files I-T returns with only Aadhaar as part of a new arrangement to link the two databases, the CBDT chief said after the Budget proposed that only the biometric ID is enough for tax purposes.
“In cases where Aadhaar is being quoted and PAN is not there, we could possibly think on the terms of allotting a PAN to the person (who is filing income tax return),” Central Board of Direct Taxes, Chairman, Pramod Chandra Mody said in an interview. Mody was asked if the Income-Tax (I-T) Department issued permanent account number will be dead after Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech announced that PAN and Aadhaar are being made interchangeable as the government will allow those who do not have PAN to file I-T returns by simply quoting their Aadhaar number and also, use it wherever they are required to quote PAN. “This is a wrong way of looking at the issue. PAN is certainly not dead. PAN is very much alive. It is just a question of providing an additional facility to the taxpayer that if he is not quoting PAN and only has Aadhaar, his filing and processes do not get affected,” Mody said.
The assessing officer of the department will use his powers to allot PAN to an entity, he said.
“The law provides that the assessing officer can suo motu also allot PAN. So, if Aadhaar is being quoted without PAN, I give him the PAN. It becomes linked,” the CBDT chairman said. ‘Suo motu’ is a Latin word that means ‘on its own motion’.
Linking of the two databases is now compulsory and backed by law, the CBDT boss said.
While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the tax department to a person, firm or entity. Tax experts said the assessing officer of the department is empowered under Section 139 of the I-T Act to suo motu issue a PAN to anyone whom they deem appropriate should have the ID, from the point of view of their financial transactions profile.
The PAN is “certainly not dead” and the recent Budget announcement of interchangeability of the two databases is an “additional facility” to ensure their linkage, which is now mandatory under the law, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Chairman, Pramod Chandra Mody, said. The assessing officer of the department will use his powers to allot PAN to an entity, he said.
