In a relief for crores of income tax assessees, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the ITR (Income Tax Return) filing due date by 45 more days, until September 15, 2025. The earlier deadline for filing returns in non-audit cases is not required was July 31, 2025.
This has come as a big relief, especially for salaried taxpayers who usually start filing their returns after June 15, after receiving Form 16 from their employers. These taxpayers typically have less than 45 days to comply with their tax return filing obligations, as most companies begin releasing Form 16 for their employees in the third and fourth weeks of June.
It should be noted here that the deadline for filing income tax returns in cases where accounts need to be audited has not been changed. These taxpayers have to file their ITRs by October 31, 2025.
The income tax return (ITR) filing usually begins on April 1 every year with the start of the new financial year. As part of its routine income tax exercise, the government, every year, first releases the income tax forms and their corresponding online and offline utilities to facilitate return filing. Last year, the government released as many as 7 ITR forms in the last week of March and the first week of April. Subsequently, necessary utilities were also made available for tax filing, which ensured that return filing started early in April.
This year, the process got delayed with the government releasing ITR forms almost with a one-month delay. These forms’ utilities are still awaited. The Income Tax Department has admitted that the whole ITR process and notified forms have seen structural and content revisions, necessitating a deadline extension for the filing of returns.
The department said the due date extension for ITR filing is aimed at simplifying compliance, enhancing transparency, and enabling accurate reporting.
Furthermore, the government feels that credits arising from TDS statements, due for filing by 31st May 2025, are expected to begin reflecting in early June. This limits the effective window for return filing in the absence of such an extension, the CBDT release said.
The last date to file ITR has now been extended till 15th September for non-audit taxpayers for the Financial Year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025-26). However, if you miss this September 15 deadline, you will have a chance to file a belated return by 31st December 2025 with a penalty.
Now, let’s understand which categories of taxpayers are not impacted by the recent deadline change in ITR filing due date.
According to CA (Dr.) Suresh Surana, this ITR deadline extension to September 15 applies to taxpayers not liable to audit under the Income Tax Act, 1961, which includes salaried individuals and other non-audit cases. “This extension aims to facilitate a smoother return filing process in light of the recent structural changes in the ITR forms and system readiness requirements,” he adds.
“It is important to note that the due dates for taxpayers whose accounts are subject to audit under the Income Tax Act remain unchanged,” Surana clarified.
As such, the due dates for taxpayers liable to audit under the Income Tax Act are as under:
30th September 2025 – Due date for furnishing the tax audit report under Section 44AB (if transfer pricing is applicable, then the due date is 31st October 2025).
31st October 2025 – Due date for filing the income tax return for taxpayers whose accounts are required to be audited under the IT Act (if transfer pricing is applicable, then the due date is 30th November 2025).
Hence, there is no extension in the due date for such audit cases, and the timelines prescribed under the IT Act for them continue to apply as originally notified, Surana further said.
31 December 2025 is the due date for filing the belated/revised return of income for AY 2025-26 for all income tax assessees. The tax department allows the filing of revised ITRs to update or make corrections in previously filed ITRs.
Taxpayers can file belated ITRs if they fail to file their returns by the September 15, 2025, due date. However, a penalty of up to Rs 5,000 will be imposed for belated ITR filing.
March 31, 2026 is the due date for filing an updated return of income (ITR-U) for AY 2025-26.