Copyright thehindubusinessline
The Income Tax Department on Wednesday extended the due date for filing Income Tax Return for Assessment Year 2025-26. Corporates and assessees, whose accounts are to be audited, must file their ITR by December 10. Earlier, the due date was October 31. “The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the due date of furnishing of Return of Income under sub-Section (1) of Section 139 of the Act for the Assessment Year 2025-26, which is 31st October 2025 in the case of assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub-Section (1) of Section 139 of the Act, to 10th December 2025,” said a statement by the CBDT. Also, the specified date to furnish the audit report under the provisions of the Income-tax Act 1961 for the previous year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025-26) has been further extended to November 10. Court ruling The development takes place a day after the Punjab & Haryana High Court and the Himachal Pradesh High Court extended the ITR filing deadline for tax audit cases from October 31 to November 30. The rulings come days after a similar direction by the Gujarat High Court, effectively mounting pressure on the CBDT to issue a nationwide extension. Both courts observed that the gap between the deadline for filing tax audit reports and ITRs should be at least one month, the same principle previously upheld by the Gujarat High Court. Since the tax audit report deadline had already been extended to October 31, the courts ruled that ITR filings for audit cases should naturally be permitted till November 30. According to the tax law, October 31 is the deadline for ITR filing for those who have to get their books of accounts audited, like companies, proprietorship and partnership firms, while for individuals and HUFs the deadline is July 31. Following industry representation, the Income Tax department had, on September 25, extended the deadline for submission of audit reports for the 2024-25 fiscal by one month till October 31. This has now been further extended till November 10. The reasons cited in these representations include disruptions caused by floods and natural calamities in certain parts of the country, which have impeded normal business and professional activity. For AY2025-26, the ITR filing deadline for individuals, too, was extended from July 31 to September 15, and further to September 16. Over 7.54 crore ITRs were filed till September 16. Of these, 1.28 crore taxpayers paid self-assessment tax till September 16. Published on October 29, 2025
