The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday extended the deadline of PAN linking with Aadhaar till June 30, 2018. Earlier, the CBDT had fixed March 31 as the deadline to link the documents while filing the Income Tax Returns.

This is a fourth extension given by the government for individuals to link their PAN with their biometric ID number. The move comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court directing extension of the March 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar with various other services.

On March 7, the government had told the Supreme Court that it might extend the deadline as some more time would be needed to conclude the prolonged hearing of the Aadhaar case. “We have extended the deadline in the past and we will extend the deadline again but we may do it by the end of month to enable the petitioners in the case conclude the arguments,” said Attorney General KK Venugopal.

The five-judge Constitution bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, and Ashok Bhushan, are hearing the petitions contesting the validity of the Aadhaar.

Later on March 13, the apex court extended the deadline from March 31 indefinitely till the final judgement in the Aadhaar vilidity case.

The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN. Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

According to the latest official figures available, over 16.65 crore PANs, of the total 33 crore issued by the income tax department, have been linked with Aadhaar.

The earlier deadlines for linking the two databases were July 31, August 31 and December 31, 2017, with the last being March 31 this year.