(LiveMint)
The income tax (I-T) website still bars taxpayers from filing their returns without an Aadhaar number, in spite of a Supreme Court order that indefinitely extended the deadline for mandatory linking of the unique identity number.
With only 10 days left for filing I-T returns for the financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17, individual taxpayers who haven’t filed their returns for the two years and have not enrolled for Aadhaar are unsure whether they can file their returns at all.
Income tax rules still maintain that I-T returns cannot be e-filed without quoting an Aadhaar number, despite the 13 March order directing the government to not make it mandatory to quote Aadhaar until the Supreme Court announces its final verdict. The “income tax utility on its e-filing website does not allow you to file a return without quoting the Aadhaar or enrolment number”, said Amit Maheshwari, a partner at Ashok Maheshwary & Associates Llp.
