I am a citizen of another country (PIO). But I hold a PAN in India and file returns regularly in India for my rental income. Since I do not have an Aadhaar number, am I exempted from linking my PAN with Aadhaar?

Rahul Bharadwaj

Every person who has been assigned a Permanent Account Number (‘PAN’) and is eligible to get an Aadhaar number under the AADHAAR (Targeted Delivery of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits And Services) Act, 2016 (‘AADHAAR Act’) must link their PAN with Aadhaar, as per section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’).

Further, as per the AADHAAR Act, every resident shall be entitled to obtain an Aadhaar number by submitting his demographic information and biometric information by undergoing the process of enrolment. A Resident, per the AADHAAR Act, is an individual who has resided in India for a period or periods amounting in all to 182 days or more in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application for enrolment.

Presently, linking of PAN and Aadhaar is not applicable to any individual who is either:

  • Residing in certain notified States in India
  • is a non-resident as per the Act
  • is 80 years or more at any time during the previous year or
  • not a citizen of India

We understand that the individual in question is not a citizen of India and we assume that he would be a Non-resident as per the Act and would not be considered a Resident under the AADHAAR Act and hence currently the linking of PAN and Aadhaar may not be compulsory in his case.

Also read: PAN-Aadhaar linking: Know how to check if Aadhaar is linked to PAN

The writer is a Partner with BDO India LLP

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