Income tax Return and Aadhaar Linkage - Mandatory From April 2017
There has been news and reports that government of India is planning to make Aaadhar card mandatory for Income tax efiling staring Finance Year 2016-17 (AY 2017-18).
As people are aware, government is trying to increase the financial tracking following demonitisation on Nov 2016 and use that as a tool to prevent black economy. Earlier Aadhaar number was also made mandatory for EPS portion of EPF.
Income tax return filing - Aadhaar number Mandatory
Government of India has been making lot of changes in rules and regulation to be able to track as many money transaction as possible.
Source in the government say that Income Tax Act 1961 is being modified accordingly to make it mandatory.
Please note that earlier it was optional to mention your Aadhaar card number in Income tax Return. Though lately lot of people have been specifying their Aadhaar card number as it made it easier to verify after filling your income tax return online. Otherwise one needs to take a printout and physically mail it to Income tax office in Bangalore.