Income Tax Department Puts Clarification On The Inoperability of PAN Cards For Certain NRIs

The IT department probed all the concerns presented by specific Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) & Overseas Citizens of India related to the inoperative of their PAN cards. 

The department clarified that two criteria must be met for PAN cards to be considered inoperative: filing income tax returns at least once in the last three years and informing the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer about their residential status. However, the department has also provided a solution to resolve this issue.

It is worth noting that the income tax department had previously made it mandatory to link PAN cards with Aadhaar, and the deadline for this requirement was June 30. 

Despite this, certain NRIs and OCIs, who were exempted from linking their PAN with Aadhaar, expressed concerns over their PANs becoming inoperative. 

Additionally, some PAN holders faced consequences due to the inoperability of their PAN cards resulting from non-linkage with Aadhaar. The department conveyed this information through a tweet addressing the matter. The Income Tax Department provided a comprehensive explanation regarding the inoperability of PAN cards. 

According to the department's tweet, the residential status of NRIs is mapped based on two criteria: filing income tax returns in any of the last three Assessment Years (AYs) or intimating their residential status to the JAO (Jurisdictional Assessing Officer). If either of these criteria is not met, the PAN cards will be rendered inoperative.

Similarly, the tweet mentioned that the PANs of Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and foreign citizens who applied for PAN under resident status but failed to update their residential status with the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer or did not file ITR in any of the last three AYs have also been rendered inoperative.

The IT department stated that the NRIs and OCIs should update their residential status on the income tax website to rectify the issue.

It is important to note that from July 1, the PAN cards of individuals who did not link them with Aadhaar were made inoperative. The department had previously stated that action would be taken against such individuals, including higher TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) and TCS (Tax Collected at Source) rates, and no refund would be provided to them.

Also Read: Income Tax Returns: How to Check Your Income Tax Refund For FY 2022-23 (AY 2023-24)