The Income Tax department has addressed concerns raised by certain Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) regarding the inoperability of their PAN cards. To clarify the matter, the department outlined two criteria that would render PAN cards inoperative: filing an income tax return at least once in the last three years and informing the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer about their residential status. The department also provided a solution to rectify the issue. It is important to note that the income tax department had previously made it mandatory to link PAN cards with Aadhaar, and the deadline for this requirement expired on June 30.
The department acknowledged the concerns expressed by certain NRIs/OCIs regarding their PAN cards becoming inoperative, even though they were exempted from linking PAN with Aadhaar. Additionally, individuals whose PAN cards were rendered inoperative due to non-linking with Aadhaar expressed apprehension about the consequences of this inoperability, as stated in the department’s tweet.
In its tweet, the IT department explained, “If NRIs have filed an income tax return in any of the last three assessment years or have informed the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer about their residential status, their PAN cards have been rendered inoperative when either of the mentioned criteria is not met.”
The tweet further mentioned, “PAN cards of OCIs/foreign citizens, who might have applied for PAN under the resident status and have not updated their residential status with the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer or have not filed an income tax return in any of the last three assessment years, have been rendered inoperative.”
The department then urged NRIs and OCIs to update their residential status on the income tax website.
Starting from July 1, PAN cards of individuals who failed to link them with Aadhaar were rendered inoperative. The income tax department had previously warned of taking action against such individuals, including higher TDS and TCS rates and no refunds for them.
