The Income Tax Department will "only" issue refunds via the e-mode
into bank accounts of taxpayers beginning next month and they should
link PAN with their accounts, the taxman said in its latest public
communication.
The department said refunds will be sent to bank accounts as it will
issue "only e-refunds from March
1, 2019." Link your PAN (permanent
account number) with your
bank account
to get your refund directly, swiftly and securely, the department said
in a public advisory issued Wednesday. It added the bank account could
be either savings, current, cash or overdraft.
Till now, the department used to issue refunds to taxpayers either in
their bank accounts or through account payee cheques, in a case-to-case
basis depending on the category of taxpayers.
The communication added taxpayers can check if their bank account is
linked with their PAN by logging onto the e-filing website of the
department:
https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ and
https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
It said those who have not linked their PAN with their bank account
should provide it to their home bank branch and also validate this over
the e-filing website of the I-T Department.
Recently, the linking of the PAN with the Aadhaar-PAN has been made
"mandatory" for those filing an Income Tax Return (ITR) and this
procedure has to be "completed" by March 31 this year.
As per data updated till early this month, the I-T Department has so far
issued 42 crore PANs, of which 23 crore have been linked with
Aadhaar.
While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number
allotted by the IT Department to a person, firm or entity.