Aadhaar-PAN Linkage Mandatory For Income Tax Returns: Supreme Court Upholds Norm Introduced By NDA Government

A Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer has upheld the the status quo of mandatorily having to link one’s Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) to file Income Tax (IT) returns and for assessment, reports Bar & Bench.

The order has been passed in relation to a question raised by Delhi High Court allowing the respondent in the instant case to file her IT returns for 2018-19 without her Aadhaar or its linkage with her PAN. The High Court had also directed the Income Tax department to not force the respondent to furnish her Aadhaar details.

Referring to the context of the previous ruling, the apex court observed, “The aforesaid order was passed by the High Court having regard to the fact that the matter was pending consideration in this court. Thereafter, this court has decided the matter and upheld the vires of section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. In view thereof, linkage of PAN with Aadhaar is mandatory.”

The bench did not leave any doubt that going forward from the 2019-20 assessment year, all assessments and filing of returns must be made in compliance with the Aadhaar judgment of the apex court from September 2018. This essentially upholds the existing requirement of mandatory Aadhaar linking with the PAN.