ITR filing AY 2025-26 deadline to be extended again?
Expert explains key reasons
July 28, 2025
Now only 50 days are left to meet the current deadline of 15 September 2025, but taxpayers do not have the necessary resources available to file select ITR forms. In such a situation, tax experts believe that there may be possibilities of extending the deadline. The reason for this is that the Income Tax Department has not yet been able to issue both online and offline utility for Form 5, 6 and 7.
Will the deadline for filing income tax returns (ITRs) be extended once again? The Income Tax Department in May-end extended the last date to file ITR from July 31 to September 15, 2025. Following the timeline extension, the Centre stated that ITRs had undergone structural and content revisions to simplify compliance and enhance transparency. These changes necessitated additional time, the tax department said.
With only 50 days left to meet the current deadline of 15 September 2025, taxpayers do not have the necessary resources available to file some ITR forms. In such a situation, tax experts believe that there may be possibilities of extending the deadline. The reason for this is that the Income Tax Department has not yet been able to issue both online and offline utilities for Form 5, 6 and 7.
Delay after delay: This time the government delayed everything from the beginning
This time the tax season started late. First of all, the government released ITR forms by the end of May, in which many structural changes were made. After this, Excel based utility was gradually released, but the online (JSON) utility of ITR-3 is still not available and the utility of ITR-5, 6, and 7 has also not come yet.
For these reasons, the central government had already extended the original deadline of 31 July to 15 September. At that time the government had cited reasons like changes in ITR forms, technical preparations and system upgrades.
The compliance window has reduced
Only a limited number of taxpayers are able to file ITR through Excel based utility. Forms 5, 6 and 7 are generally for trusts, partnership firms and companies and their number is in lakhs. Due to the absence of the utility, these taxpayers have not been able to start their ITR filing till now.
Deadline may be extended, but it is too early to say anything, says CA (Dr.) Suresh Surana
“As of now, there has been no official communication from the Central Board of Direct Taxes regarding any extension w.r.t. deadline for filing Income-tax Returns (ITRs) for Assessment Year 2025–26 in Forms 5, 6, or 7.”
He further said: “However, the delay in the release of the necessary filing utilities, both online and offline, for these forms would squeeze the compliance window for the tax filers… Notably, the utility for ITR-3 is currently available only in Excel format, with the JSON-based online filing option still pending…”
Long time has been given on such occasions earlier as well
According to Surana, “Given this context, there could be a case for an extension of the timeline, though it’s a bit early to comment on it… In prior years, the CBDT has extended due dates in response to similar administrative or technical delays…”
However, he clarified that until any official notification comes from the CBDT, the existing deadlines will be considered valid.
Until any formal notification is issued, the existing deadlines (i.e. 15 September 2025 in case of audit cases and 31 October in case of Tax Audit cases and 30 November 2025 in case of Transfer Pricing) remains applicable, he added.
Summing up…
The repeated delay in technical preparations and late release of utilities by the government has made this tax season quite confusing. If the utilities for Form 5, 6 and 7 are not released in the coming days, the government will have no choice but to extend the deadline. However, until a formal announcement is made by the CBDT, the deadline of 15 September 2025 will remain in force.
[The Financial Express]
