Their main weapon: the Aadhaar unique ID. Three recent decisions – making the permanent account number (PAN) interchangeable with Aadhaar, automatic issuance of PANs to people who provide their Aadhaar number in high-value transactions, and to make PANs that are not linked to Aadhaar inoperative from September 1 -- have armed the authorities to track tax cheats, officials said. Some 220 million PANs have been issued by the tax department so far -- less than a fifth of the 1.23 billion Aadhaar numbers that have been provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This will help tax detectives zero in on tax evaders who under-report their incomes, the officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition anonymity. “As on date more than 90% of India’s population possess an Aadhaar number.

Source: Hindustan Times July 20, 2019 23:15 UTC