As the deadline to file Income Tax return approaches, only about half of the PAN holders in the country have linked their PAN cards with Aadhaar.

The Supreme Court, in a mandate, had declared it compulsory for an individual to link their PAN with Aadhaar till March 31, 2019. However, the latest PAN card data reveals that only 56 per cent of such account holders had linked the two cards till March 31, 2019.

According to the Income Tax Department, out of 44.57 crore Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) issued, only 24.90 crore of them have been linked with Aadhaar so far.

Apart from Aadhaar linking, the data also revealed a vast gender gap in PAN allocation.

According to the Income Tax Department, the number of female PAN holders is almost half of male PAN holders in the country, as of the end of the financial year 2019.

Out of 43.52 crore PAN cards allocated to individuals, 37 per cent are allotted to women, while 63 per cent have been given to men.

The highest difference is in the age bracket of 20-30 years, where men hold 17 per cent PAN accounts while women have only 9.32 per cent.

The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for income tax returns to be filed only after Aadhaar of an individual has been linked to their PAN accounts. However, data reveals that many people have still not done so. The Income Tax Department has therefore, extended the deadline by six months, to September 30.

A notification by the I-T Department in March this year stated that it is mandatory to quote the Aadhaar number while filing income tax return.

Aadhaar is mandatory for various services and transactions, such as filing income tax return, applying for PAN card, getting mobile connections, and opening a bank account.

The government initiated linking of Aadhaar to track duplicate PAN cards in the system. The I-T Department said that if people would not get their Aadhar and PAN numbers linked, the department might cancel their PAN.

The deadline for PAN-Aadhaar linking had been extended many times before. First, it was June 30, 2018, then it was changed to March 31, 2019, and now it has been extended to September 30, 2019.

Although the deadline has been extended, the person filing their income tax return before July 31 will have to quote their Aadhaar number in the I-T return.