Growing demand to extend ITR filing deadline

With the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline of September 15 approaching, a chorus of tax experts, taxpayers, and even two BJP MPs, Bhartruhari Mahtab and PP Chowdhury, are calling on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to grant an extension.

The demand for an extension is based on several key challenges facing taxpayers and tax professionals:

• Delayed ITR Forms: ITR forms, including ITR-5 and various audit-related forms, were released late, in July and August, leaving taxpayers with limited time to prepare their filings.

• Technical Glitches: The tax portal has been plagued by persistent technical issues, such as validation errors, slow upload speeds, and mismatches in crucial documents like Form 26AS, Annual Information Statement (AIS), and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS).

• Natural Disasters: Recent floods in states like Odisha have disrupted essential services like power and the internet, making it impossible for many to file on time.

• Festive Season: The ongoing festive season, which includes Ganesh Puja and Durga Puja, has led to a shortage of staff, further slowing down the filing process.

• Increased Workload: Tax professionals are struggling with the dual burden of simultaneous GST filings and ITR filings.

Given these issues, tax experts have proposed a series of new deadlines:

• ITR (Non-Audit): Extend the deadline from September 15 to September 30 .

• Tax Audit Report (TAR): Extend the deadline from September 30 to October 31 .

• ITR with TAR: Extend the deadline from October 31 to November 30 .

• Belated ITR Filing: Extend the deadline from December 31 to February 28, 2026 .