Indian Community in Australia

Latest government notification also exempts NRIs from quoting Aadhaar for income tax returns and PAN application

NRI’s do not need to worry about any problems with their financial or income tax transactions in India for not having an Aadhaar card. Previously the Indian government announced Aadhaar card exemption for NRIs but still many NRIs expressed their concerns about disruption of transactions in NRE accounts in India and filing of income tax returns.

As PAN was already made mandatory for holding a bank account, NRIs are concerned about a June 30 deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN. Failure to link Aadhaar with PAN makes PAN redundant and hence some NRIs feared that this could affect their banking transactions. PAN is already mandatory to make cash deposits above Rs50,000 with banks in India. A redundant PAN will also affect NRIs who invest in Indian stock market, for which PAN is mandatory.

However, a latest Indian government notification has further alleviated these concerns.

The requirement of quoting of Aadhaar shall not apply to NRIs for filing of return of income and for making an application for PAN with effect from July 1, 2017, according to the notification issued by the Central Government on May 11.

The government started giving these exemptions to NRIs after a top official clarified that NRIs were not eligible for Aadhaar and onus was on the government departments to give exemptions to NRIs in this regard.

As per Indian laws, an individual is considered a resident, if he or she has resided in India for a period or periods amounting in all to 182 days or more in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application [for relevant services or documents like Aadhaar]. An applicant for Aadhaar has to make a declaration that he or she is a resident of India.