In between the whole panic of GST, there is another big fear created by media. The whole matter of PAN & Aadhar has been ill reported and the headlines by some big media houses have scared the audience to death. Have a look-
News 18
Live Mint
Economic Times
The Hindu
Misconceptions regarding the matter among audience due to ill reporting by media
1. If you will not link your PAN card with Aadhar by 1st July, the PAN will get cancelled too.
2. Once cancelled, it will be very difficult to renew.
3. There is no other way to file ITRs except of this.
This sensationalism by media created panic among people and hence the immediate traffic load on government servers decreased its efficiency and the technical errors users got in the process made them scared even more.
1
Technical error in linking of #Aadhaar and #pan @UIDAI .
please look into this.— Vivek Jha ویویک جھا (@vivekjha31) June 30, 2017
2
Team, i have been trying from yesterday nie. It shows website shutdown. Now technical error in UIDAI. Now how am supposed to link. Pls help
— Achintiyah 🇮🇳 2.O (@Achintiyah) June 30, 2017
3
@IncomeTaxIndia @UIDAI I am getting the 'Technical error at UIDAI' when linking PAN to Aadhaar! Plz rectify! #important pic.twitter.com/VF5FOnZdyI
— Karthik Kumar K R (@KarthikKKRamesh) June 30, 2017
Truth behind the matter
There is no doubt that it’s really important to link your PAN with Aadhar by 1st July but it’s surely not the deadline. World is not going to end for you on 1st July, if you somehow couldn’t make it. As per the government declaration, it’s mandatory to link PAN with Aadhar but the final date is not announced yet.
However, since the linking is mandatory by 1st July, if you couldn’t do it till then, you will need to quote Aadhaar number in the application form for allotment of a new permanent account number and in the return of income.
According to PTI, a senior Income Tax Department official clarified that people who are not able to link their Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) by July 1, will have the option to mention the UIDAI-provided number in the e-ITR and this will be considered a valid linking of the two unique numbers.
So that’s it and you have no need to worry. Just be aware of the things and don’t go simply by what media says. Do your own research and make an informed decision. Also, media needs to get responsible for the sake of humanity. How long will you go if viewers and readers will stop trusting you. In the fight of clicks and trust, you’ve to go with the trust.