Things to do before March 31: PAN-Aadhaar linking, MF nomination, and more

March 31 marks the end of the financial year. The new financial year 2023-24 commences on April 1 (Saturday).

Before the closing of the financial year, there are certain things that need to be done by individuals. Here is a checklist.

Linking PAN-Aadhaar card

The last date to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card is March 31. As per the Income Tax Department’s website, “Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act provides that every individual who has been allotted a permanent account number (PAN) as on the 1st day of July, 2017, and who is eligible to obtain an Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number in the prescribed form and manner. In other words, such persons have to mandatorily link their Aadhaar and PAN before the prescribed date (31.03.2022 without fee payment and 31.03.2023 with prescribed fee payment For more details refer to CBDT circular No.7/2022 dated 30.03.2022.”

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Before June 30, 2022, the fee to link PAN-Aadhaar was Rs 500 and after that deadline, it has been increased to Rs 1,000 till March 31, 2023.

If you fail to link your PAN with your Aadhaar before March 31, your PAN card will be inoperative.

How to link PAN with Aaddhaar

You can link your PAN with Aadhaar by following process, as given on the UIDAI portal:

a) Open the Income Tax e-filing portal – https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/
b) Register on it (if not already done). Your PAN (Permanent Account Number) will be your user id.
c) Log in by entering the User ID, password and date of birth.
d) A pop up window will appear, prompting you to link your PAN with Aadhaar. If not, go to ‘Profile Settings’ on the menu bar and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’.
e) Details such as name, date of birth and gender will already be mentioned as per the PAN details.
f) Verify the PAN details on screen with the ones mentioned on your Aadhaar. Please note that if there is a mismatch, you need to get the same corrected in either of the documents.
g) If the details match, enter your Aadhaar number and click on the “link now” button.
h) A pop-up message will inform you that your Aadhaar has been successfully linked to your PAN.
i) You may also visit https://www.utiitsl.com/ OR https://www.egov-nsdl.co.in/ to link your PAN and Aadhaar.

Nomination for mutual fund unit holders

“Investors subscribing to mutual fund units on or after August 1, 2022, shall have the choice of: All the AMCs (Asset Management Companies) are advised to set deadline as March 31, 2023 for nomination/opting out of nomination for all the existing individual unit holder(s) holding mutual fund units either solely or jointly… failing which the folios shall be frozen for debits,” Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said.

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Section 80C and income tax exemption

Before March 31, claim your income tax exemption under Section 80C. Investments in Public Provident Fund (PPF), equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, and others will give you income tax exemption under 80C.

Tax exemption on high-premium LIC policy

This should be done before March 31. From April 1, tax exemption is not available for high-premium LIC policies.

Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana

According to LIC India, the total amount of purchase price under all the policies under this plan, and all the policies taken under Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana allowed to a senior citizen shall not exceed Rs 15 lakh.

The scheme provides an assured pension of 7.40% p.a. payable monthly. This assured rate of pension shall be payable for the full policy term of 10 years for all the policies purchased till 31st March, 2023, LIC India added.