ITR Filling Deadline– There is a major update for taxpayers. This year the Income Tax Department has extended the deadline for filing ITR from 31 July to 15 September. Now only about 1 week is left for the new deadline to end, but still many taxpayers have not been able to file their returns. In such a situation, taxpayers and professionals are again demanding an extension of the deadline.
Why the demand for extending the deadline?
This year, the delay in the release of Income Tax Return (ITR) utilities has posed a challenge to taxpayers and tax professionals. Technical problems also continue on the portal. These include frequent session timeouts, mismatch between Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 26AS. Due to these reasons, the filing process has become more complicated and stressful than before.
Availability of form is important
Himansh Singhla, Partner, SBHS & Associates, says, “Timely availability of return forms and utilities every tax season is crucial for proper compliance. Also, adequate filing windows help taxpayers and professionals to fulfill their obligations properly.”
He said that last year ITR-1 to ITR-4 and ITR-6 were released on April 1, 2024, ITR-5 on May 31 and ITR-7 on June 21. This gave taxpayers about three months of preparation time before the July 31 deadline. This year, the situation has changed completely. CBDT extended the deadline for non-audit cases from July 31, 2025 to September 15, 2025. However, utilities for ITR-5, ITR-6 and ITR-7 were released in August. ITR-2 and ITR-3 were also released on July 11, 2025. This left very little time for taxpayers and professionals to complete their filing.
CA Pratibha Goyal said, ‘The ITR deadline should be extended so that last minute rush can be avoided. The late release of ITR utilities has messed everything up.’
Increased deadline pressure
The situation is further complicated by the fact that there are multiple deadlines. Tax audit reports have to be submitted by September 30, leaving little time for transition from non-audit return filing to audit reporting. In addition, ROC deadlines under the Companies Act are also in September. This has further increased the pressure to comply with multiple regulations.
The CBDT had extended the deadline for non-audit ITR to September 15 in May 2025, considering the practical difficulties. But the main utilities were released in August. Experts say that due to this, taxpayers did not take full advantage of the extension. Himansh Singhla says, ‘It is very important to extend the deadline after September 15. This is not just a matter of convenience, but of fairness and practicality.’