On Sunday, the government extended the deadline to link PAN with unique biometric national ID Aadhaar by 6 months.

The deadline has been stretched for the sixth time from 31 March to 30 September 2019. It was previously extended from June 2018 to March 2019.

In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said, "The matter has been considered by the Central government and now the cut-off date for intimating the Aadhaar number and linking PAN with Aadhaar is 30.09.2019, unless specifically exempted."

However, it should be noted that while filing one's income tax returns (ITR) it is mandatory starting 1 April 2019 to quote Aadhaar number in the e-form, unless specifically exempted.

After the CBDT had made it clear that a PAN could become invalid on failing to link with Aadhaar, the deadline was reconsidered by the government and duly extended to 30 September.

Earlier, the Supreme Court also said that linking PAN with Aadhaar for filing income tax returns will remain mandatory.