ITR filing last date extended from July 31, 2025, for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26): Check the new date here

The Income Tax Department has extended the due date to file income tax return for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26) from July 31, 2025, to September 15, 2025. The decision was made after a delay in issuing the notification of income tax return forms. Further, the income tax department is yet to issue the utilities to file the income tax return.

The Income Tax Department announced this via a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). As per the post, "Kind Attention Taxpayers! CBDT has decided to extend the due date of filing of ITRs, which are due for filing by 31st July 2025, to 15th September 2025. This extension will provide more time due to significant revisions in ITR forms, system development needs, and TDS credit reflections. This ensures a smoother and more accurate filing experience for everyone. Formal notification will follow."

Salaried employees to benefit from this extension

The ITR filing of July 31, 2025, applies to most general categories of taxpayers. This includes most salaried employees and all those taxpayers whose accounts are not required to be audited.

Salaried employee will get 46 days extra to file their income tax returns. A penalty of up to Rs 5,000 will be applicable if the ITR is not filed by the last date.

Also read: Taxpayers should avoid filing ITR before June 15

Why ITR filing deadline has been extended to September 15, 2025

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has clarified the reasons for extending this due date. As per CBDT, "The notified ITRs for AY 2025-26 have undergone structural and content revisions aimed at simplifying compliance, enhancing transparency, and enabling accurate reporting. These changes have necessitated additional time for system development, integration, and testing of the corresponding utilities. Furthermore, credits arising from TDS statements, due for filing by 31st May 2025, are expected to begin reflecting in early June, limiting the effective window for return filing in the absence of such extension."

The tax department further said, "In view of the extensive changes introduced in the notified ITRs and considering the time required for system readiness and roll-out of Income Tax Return (ITR) uilities for Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the due date for filing returns."

"Accordingly, to facilitate a smooth and convenient filing experience for taxpayers, it has been decided that the due date for filing of ITRs, originally due on 31st July 2025, is extended to 15th September 2025. A formal notification to this effect is being issued separately. This extension is expected to mitigate the concerns raised by stakeholders and provide adequate time for compliance, thereby ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the return filing process," CBDT said in a post on X.

Also Read: 9 changes in ITR forms for FY 2024-25

ITR filing due date for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26) extended: What tax experts are saying
Naveen Wadhwa, Chartered Accountant and Vice-President-Research at Taxmann.com, says, "Unlike the previous couple of years, when ITR forms were released well in advance, typically before March, the ITR forms for the assessment year 2025-26 have been released with a delay of more than a month. All ITR forms have been notified in seven batches, with the first notification issued on 29-04-2025 and the last on 09-05-2025. There is a delay of more than 39 days from the last day of the previous year, 2024-25. This has created anticipation that the department may have to extend the due date to file income tax returns. This apprehension is based on instructions given in earlier years by the Gujarat and Punjab & Haryana High Courts to the CBDT to extend the due date for filing income-tax returns, in order to alleviate, to a certain extent, the hardships caused to assessees due to the delay in providing ITR filing utilities on time. To avoid any writ petitions in the High Courts to extend the due dates to file the ITR due to delay in releasing the ITR Forms and ITR Utilities, the CBDT has suo motu extended the due date till 15th September 2025. This provides an additional time for the taxpayers to prepare and file their returns."

Sonu Iyer, Partner and National Leader, People Advisory Services-Tax, EY India, says, "Given the requirements of the new ITR forms, the e-filing utility (both online and offline) needs to be updated by the Government. Therefore, it is a very welcome move from the government to extend the ITR filing deadline from 31 July 2025 to 15 September 2025, allowing taxpayers the time required to comply with these enhanced reporting requirements and legislative changes.”

Deepak Kumar Jain, Founder and CEO of TaxManager.in, the tax advisory portal, says, "With over 10 crore taxpayers expected to file returns for AY 2025–26—including a growing number of first-time filers, those with foreign assets, and individuals with multiple income sources—this extension offers much-needed breathing room. It also allows for better reflection of TDS credits and ensures a smoother, more accurate filing experience for all."

Chartered Accountant Ashish Niraj, Partner A S N & Company, says, “This extension is a welcome step as today, on 27th May 2025, till 5 PM, ITR is not available to be filed on the Income Tax Portal. Even AIS is not getting fetched properly in many cases. Now, as the Income Tax Department is taking time to enable the filing of Income Tax Return on the portal, this extension will give relief to professionals and taxpayers both."

CA Deepak Chopra, Chairman, Direct Tax Committee, KSCAA Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association, says, "While the ITR forms for AY 2025–26 and the amended Form 3CD have been notified, the corresponding filing utilities and schemas necessary for online submission are yet to be released. Without these utilities, return filing remains practically impossible. The CBDT’s decision to extend the due date to 15th September 2025 is therefore both timely and justified. It echoes the direction of the Gujarat High Court in the case of All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants vs. Union of India [2021] 279 Taxman 382 (Gujarat)[08-01-2021], which emphasised that ITR forms and audit utilities should be available by 1st April of the assessment year."

Tarun Kumar Madaan, Practising Chartered Accountant, says, "This extension has been granted due to extensive structural and content revisions made to the notified ITR Forms (1 to 7). The revamped forms have necessitated additional time for system integration, utility testing, and backend readiness to ensure a more accurate and seamless filing experience. One of the significant revisions includes the restructured Schedule-Capital Gains section, which now requires a split of gains based on whether the transfer occurred before or after 23 July 2024, the date marking the implementation of amendments introduced by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024. This change significantly affects the computation of holding periods, indexation eligibility, and applicable tax rates, making it essential for taxpayers to be meticulous while reporting capital gains. Another reason behind this extension is the filing of the TDS statements, which deductors will file by 31 May 2025, are expected to begin reflecting in taxpayer accounts only by early June. Without this extension, taxpayers would have had a significantly compressed window of just 2 months to reconcile tax credits and complete their filings. This raises the risk of mismatches, errors, and potential tax notices."

Vivek Jalan - Partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services LLP, says, "The timeline of 31st July for filing ITRs for taxpayers is a big hardship every year. Every year, there are changes in the ITRs structure, which means utilities take time to be published. Every year, TDS/TCS credits are reflected by 15th June, which means effectively only 1.5 months are available for filing such ITRs. It is a welcome move to extend the due date to 15th September this year. However, it is a long-standing demand of Taxpayers that the due date for filing ITRs for such taxpayers be permanently extended to at least 31st August. It is also proposed by taxpayers that in the New Income Tax Bill 2025, which will see light of day from 1st April 2026, this new date be inserted ab-initio itself."