An unlinked PAN is inoperative: the check, the fee, the exemptions

This note is NEED TO KNOW, episode 3, under Paisa & Rules. The stamp is verified, and the status chip is live. The official pages were read between 3:28 and 3:34 am IST on 12 October 2026. The last check was at 11:37 am IST on 15 October, and the post went up at 11:40 am IST. At posting, the fee, the exemptions and the consequences were unchanged, and the portal was live.

An unlinked PAN is inoperative until it is linked with Aadhaar, and until the fee is paid where a fee applies. The mechanism in this check is the one in the rules: a PAN not linked with Aadhaar by 30 June 2023 stays inoperative until it is linked with that fee.

While the PAN is inoperative, four consequences follow. CBDT Circular 3/2023, dated 28 March 2023, lists them, and rule 162(3) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026, repeats them. There is no tax refund. There is no interest on a refund. Tax is deducted at a higher rate under section 206AA. Tax is collected at a higher rate under section 206CC. Rule 162(3) points those higher rates to section 397(2). Paragraph 3 of the circular says exempt persons are not affected. The consequences page still lists the same four, and says the PAN is reactivated by intimating the Aadhaar number.

The fee is ₹1,000. Rule 158(10) sets "an amount equal to ₹1000" where the link was not made by 30 June 2023. The Link Aadhaar FAQ says a fee of one thousand rupees will continue to apply. The recheck at 11:37 am IST on 15 October found that fee still in the FAQ, and found rule 158(10) still at ₹1,000. An amendment dated 8 October 2026, G.S.R. 871(E), the Sixth Amendment, changes only rule 231 and Form 161, described in the recheck as a penalty waiver. It does not change rule 158 or rule 162.

After the Aadhaar number is intimated and the fee is paid, the PAN becomes operative within thirty days. That is rule 162(2). On screen the same step reads "within a month". The caption uses thirty days. Both point at the same rule.

The exemptions, on the Income Tax Department's Link Aadhaar FAQ, reviewed across 12 to 15 October 2026, and under Notification 37/2017, are these. A person residing in Assam, J&K or Meghalaya. A non-resident. A person who is 80 or over at any time during the previous year. On screen that last group is "Super seniors". A person who is not a citizen. The department's PAN and Aadhaar note of 16 January 2026 says the exemptions apply only if Aadhaar is not possessed. The FAQ and Circular 3/2023 do not add that condition. The screen follows the FAQ list.

The check is free. Open Link Aadhaar Status on the e-filing portal, the pre-login path on incometax.gov.in. The form asks for the PAN and the Aadhaar number. It does not ask for a login. At 3:29 am IST on 12 October a headed browser loaded the page; the footer said last reviewed on 12 October 2026. A headless fetch of the same address returned Permission Denied. At about 11:38 am IST on 15 October the form loaded again, and the footer said last reviewed on 15 October 2026.

From 1 April 2026 the legal basis moved. Section 139AA and section 234H of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and rule 114AAA, are replaced by section 262(6) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and by rules 158 and 162 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026. Those rules are Notification 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026, in force from 1 April 2026. The 16 January note still described the fee under section 234H. That note is dated before the April change. The fee line this note uses for now is rule 158(10).

This note is not legal advice. Use only the official portal. Do not open a "link PAN" link that arrives by SMS or WhatsApp. For your own case, check the official site.

The cover is a graphic made by Neutral Politics. The credit is "NP graphic". It shows the Link Aadhaar Status page and Circular 3/2023 as the documents read for this check.