The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday extended the deadlines for filing income tax returns (ITRs) and audit reports for assessment year 2025-26, offering relief to taxpayers and tax professionals. The new due dates are November 10 for audit reports and December 10 for ITRs.
Previously, assessees requiring audits, such as companies, proprietorships, and working partners in firms, had until October 31, 2025, to file ITRs for financial year 2024-25 (assessment year 2025-26).
In its Wednesday statement, the CBDT extended the due date for filing returns under Section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, from October 31, 2025, to December 10, 2025, for assessees under clause (a) of Explanation 2 to Section 139(1), which generally covers companies, firms, and individuals needing audits.
The Board also pushed the ‘specified date’ for submitting tax audit reports under relevant Act provisions for previous year 2024-25 to November 10, 2025.
This move follows orders from the Himachal Pradesh and Punjab & Haryana High Courts extending the audit return deadline from October 31, 2025, to November 30, 2025, in line with a prior Gujarat High Court decision for tax audit cases.
“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. The ‘specified date’ of furnishing of the report of audit under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the Previous Year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025-26) is further extended to 10th November 2025,” the CBDT stated.
Earlier, on September 25, the income tax department had extended the deadline for tax audit reports (TARs) from September 30 to October 31, 2025.
