New Delhi, June 30: As per the circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the deadline to link Aadhaar - the unique biometric identity number - with the permanent account number (PAN) ends today. Ambiguity continues, however, on what will happen from tomorrow for who fail to adhere to the CBDT order.

The Supreme Court, while hearing the clutch of petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar, had instructed the government to indefinitely extend the time period of linking various services and identity cards with the Aadhaar.

The tax department, however, claims the deadline to link PAN with Aadhaar remains intact as it is covered under the legal provision of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. Whereas, the Supreme Court has only "partially stayed" the provision of Section 139AA(2) - which invalidates the PAN if not linked to Aadhaar.

What Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act says?

Every person who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number shall, on or after the 1st day of July, 2017, quote Aadhaar number — (i) in the application form for allotment of permanent account number; (ii) in the return of income.

What Section 139AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says?

Every person who has been allotted permanent account number as on the 1st day of July, 2017, and who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to such authority in such form and manner as may be prescribed, on or before a date to be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette:

Provided that in case of failure to intimate the Aadhaar number, the permanent account number allotted to the person shall be deemed to be invalid and the other provisions of this Act shall apply, as if the person had not applied for allotment of permanent account number.

What will happen if you fail to link Aadhaar with PAN?

Since the Supreme Court has put Article 139AA(2) on hold, the PAN will not be invalidated. The top court, in its order, had said the invalidation of the PAN will lead to grave consequences as the user's day-to-day transactions will be obstructed.

However, as per the CBDT statement, those who have failed to link PAN with Aadhaar will not be allowed to file their income tax returns - the last day for which is July 31.

For those who have already filed the ITR without the linking PAN with Aadhaar, their returns will not be processed by the Income Tax department.

A major possibility, however, experts claim, would be another extension in the deadline by the CBDT. On the past four occasions, the tax department pushed the deadline by three months as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2018 01:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).