New Delhi, March 31: The deadline to link Personal Account Number or PAN with Aadhaar card ends today. Those who will not link their PAN cards with Aadhaar cards before midnight will not only face a penalty of up to Rs 1,000 but their PAN will also become inoperative. Notably, it is mandatory to link Aadhaar card with PAN card for filing income tax returns. Therefore, people are visiting the official website of the Income Tax department to complete the linking process. However, it appears the site is not working properly. How to Link PAN And Aadhaar Card? Know Online and Offline Ways to Link PAN Number and Aadhaar Number Before March 31, 2021 Deadline.

A number of people have complained on Twitter alleging the official website of the Income Tax department is down and their are unable to link their PAN cards with Aadhaar cards. "Income Tax portal not accessible. Users are not able to link PAN with Aadhaar," one Pushan Barman tweeted. Similar complaint was made by Hussein Ali. A person named Arun sought extension for linking PAN with Aadhaar as the website was not responding. Voter ID and Passport are Proof of Citizenship, But Not Aadhaar and PAN Card, Says Maharashtra Court.

Income Tax Site Down, Say Netizens:

Here's How to Link PAN With Aadhaar Via SMS:

In case you are facing the same issue while trying to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card, you will be happy to know that the linking process can be done via SMS. To link Aadhaar and PAN via an SMS, you will have to send a message at 567678 or 56161 from your registered mobile number. Format of the SMS should be like this: "UIDAIPAN(12 digit Aadhaar number) space (10 digit PAN Number)".

As per Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, those who have been issued PAN as of July 1, 2017, and have an Aadhaar card will have to link them by the end of the day without fail. If you fail to do so before midnight, you will not be able to file income tax returns (ITR) or open a new bank account. Moreover, you will have to pay higher TDS and your PAN becomes inoperative. You may also face a penalty of Rs 10,000 if your PAN card become inoperative.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2021 02:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).