Will govt extend ITR submission deadline again? What Income Tax practitioners have to say
There are a few snags in the system that can merit another pushback of the ITR filing deadline. These have been mentioned as both online and offline utilities for Form 5, 6 and 7, which are generally used by trusts, partnership firms and companies.
Kolkata: The Income Tax Return filing season is upon us. Forms 16s have been distributed in different offices and people are expected to arrange their necessary documents in preparation to file income tax. Usually every yar, the deadline to file ITR is July 31. But this year it has already been pushed back to September 15, 2025. can it again be pushed back, is the question on many lips.
The reason, the Income Tax Department is yet to issue both online and offline utilities for ITR Form 5, 6 and 7, reports stated. Under such circumstances, it could just be possible that the department comes up with another extension of the deadline to file income tax returns. Some experts also think so.
Significantly, while extending the ITR deadline from July 31 by a month and a half, the Income Tax Department said ITR forms were undergoing changes and there were technical preparations and system upgrades which necessitated the deadline being pushed back. As a result, the tax season began rather late.
Delayed beginning
"The Income Tax Department is yet to release ITR-5, 6 and 7. That's problem. Also, ITR 3, which is used by individuals and Hindu Undivided Family who have income from gains from business and profession to report, is yet to be delivered online. Only the offline ITR-3 form has come. Therefore, there might be another extension of the ITR filing deadline," said Income Tax Bar Association, Calcutta secretary, Himadri Mukhopadhyay.
Incidentally, the forms marked ITR-5, 6 and 7 are used by trusts, partnership firms and companies. Their numbers though small than individual taxpayers run into lakhs. But these category of taxpayers are yet to begin filing tax due to this situation.
The government also released ITR forms only by the end of May, There were structural changes in them. Reports also said that the Excel based utility was gradually released. Law practitioners pointed out that the online (JSON) utility of ITR-3 is yet not available. TO compound problems, the utility of ITR-5, 6 and 7 has also not been made public.
Dr Suresh Surana, chartered accountant, told the media that an extension of the ITR filing deadline cannot be ruled out. However, he also said that one cannot say anything right now for sure and has to watch out how the situation unfolds. But he also mentioned that CBDT (central Board of Direct Taxes) has extended ITR filing deadlines on account of technical or administrative delays.
It goes without saying that unless there is an official announcement, the deadline of September 2025 holds.