Government makes Aadhaar Mandatory for Opening Bank Accounts

The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for opening bank accounts as well as for carrying out financial transactions above of Rs 50,000.
In addition, the government has asked all the existing account holders to link Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts by December 31, 2017. Failure to comply with this guideline will make the account invalid.
Further, the notification issued amending the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, will require quoting of Aadhaar card mandatory along with PAN by individuals, companies and partnership firms for all financial transactions of 50,000 or above. Before the notification, the PMLA Rules made it mandatory to submit PAN number or Form 60 to banks while opening accounts for high-value transactions.

Background

The Supreme Court in its recent verdict has upheld Section139AA of the Income Tax Act,1961 which requires quoting Aadhaar number while applying for PAN card as well as for filing of income tax returns as constitutionally valid. Following this verdict, the government has made compulsory the submission of Aadhaar number or the applicant’s Aadhaar Enrolment ID  for the filing of income tax returns as well as for applications for PAN from July 1.
Section 139AA(1) of the I-T Act,1961, as introduced by the Finance Act, 2017, makes it mandatory quoting of Aadhaar/Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form while filing income tax returns with effect from July 1, 2017.
Section 139AA(2) of the I-T Act provides that persons with PAN card as on the 1st day of July 2017, and who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar should intimate his Aadhaar and in the case of non-intimation of Aadhaar, the PAN allotted to the person shall be deemed to be invalid.
The Supreme Court has upheld Section 139AA(1) and has imposed a partial stay for the time being to Section 139AA(2) pending resolution of the other cases before the larger bench of the Supreme Court.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017