New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS): More than 17 crore PAN cards will become inoperative if not linked with the Aadhar by end of March.

In a move with large scale disruption potential, the Income Tax Department has said that Permanent Account Number (PAN) will become inoperative if not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020.

It may be recalled that the deadline for linking of PAN and Aadhar has been extended several times and the latest deadline ends on 31 March, 2020.

As per the latest figures, over 30.75 crore PANs have already been linked to Aadhaar. However, 17.58 crore PANs are yet to be linked with the 12-digit biometric ID.

The Supreme Court had in September 2018 declared Aadhaar as constitutionally valid and held that the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of income tax returns and allotment of PAN cards.

"Where a person, who has been allotted the permanent account number as on July1, 2017 and is required to intimate his Aadhaar number under sub-section (2) of section 139AA, has failed to intimate the same on or before March 31, 2020, the permanent account number of such person shall become inoperative immediately after the said date for the purposes of furnishing, intimating or quoting under the Act," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said.

Through a notification, the CBDT amended Income Tax rules and inserted Rule 114, stipulating the "manner of making permanent account number inoperative".

The notification said that persons whose PANs become inoperative shall be liable for all the consequences under the I-T Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the permanent account number.

For those linking PAN with Aadhaar after March 31, 2020, the I-T department said it shall "become operative from the date of intimation of Aadhaar number".

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.