Has PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline been extended? Here is how to check if your PAN card is still operative

As the bell rang 12 midnight and India entered the year 2026, many people are still in confusion whether the government has extended the December 31, 2025 deadline for the PAN card and the Aadhaar card linking. Let’s find out if the government has extended the PAN-Aadhaar linking due date or not?

As of now, there is no official announcement about the extension of the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline beyond December 31, 2025. The Income Tax Department has not issued any notification announcing fresh due date of PAN-Aadhaar linking. This means taxpayers who have not completed the linking process by the deadline risk their PAN becoming inoperative from January 1, 2026.

Those who are unsure about the status of their PAN card should immediately check whether it has become inoperative or not. This can be done easily on the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal using PAN and Aadhaar details. If PAN is shown as inactive due to non-linking, completing the Aadhaar linking process is the only way to restore its validity, subject to applicable rules and fees.

Step-by-step process to verify your PAN

Step 1: Go to e-Filing portal homepage.

Step 2: Click Verify Your PAN on the e-Filing homepage.

Step 3: On the Verify Your PAN page, enter your PAN, Full Name, Date of Birth and Mobile Number (accessible to you) details and click Continue.

Step 4: On the Verification page, enter the 6-digit OTP received on the mobile number entered in Step 3 and click Validate.

Things to note

• OTP will be valid for 15 minutes only.

• You have 3 attempts to enter the correct OTP.

• The OTP expiry countdown timer on screen tells you when the OTP will expire.

• The OTP timer displays the time remaining to regenerate an OTP. On clicking Resend OTP, a new OTP will be generated and sent.

On successful verification, your PAN status will be displayed.

How to reactivate PAN after it becomes inoperative

If you miss the deadline to PAN with Aadhaar, you can still link it, but it will cost you Rs 1,000. Here is what to do to activate PAN, as per the Protean website.

Pay Rs 1,000 fine. A late fee of Rs 1,000 must be paid through the e-Pay tax facility on the official portal. Once the penalty is paid, the PAN-Aadhaar linking process can be completed. It usually takes 7 to 30 days for the status to change from ‘Inoperative’ back to ‘Active.’ During this waiting period, higher TDS rates will continue to apply.