AGFTC and ITBA and Submits Representation Regarding Extension of Due Dates for Filing of ITR and TAR for AY 2025-26
In a representation dated 12th September 2025, the All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants (AGFTC) and the Income Tax Bar Association (ITBA), Ahmedabad, have requested the Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman to extend the due dates for filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and Tax Audit Reports for the Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26.
The associations represent thousands of CAs and tax professionals. In the representation, they mentioned the following hardships that are being faced by the taxpayer and professional community.
Delayed Release of Utilities
As per the income tax portal, here is the issuance of JSON schema and ITR utilities:
| Form | Schema Date | Effective No. of Days Available (up to 15-Sep-2025) | Effective No. of Days Available (up to 30-Sep-2025) |
| ITR-1 | 30-May-25 | 108 | |
| ITR-2 | 11-Jul-25 | 66 | |
| ITR-3 | 11-Jul-25 | 66 | |
| ITR-4 | 30-May-25 | 108 | |
| ITR-5 | 08-Aug-25 | 38 | |
| ITR-6 | 14-Aug-25 | ||
| ITR-7 | 21-Aug-25 | ||
| 3CD | 14-Aug-25 | 47 |
many taxpayers use the third-party software to file ITR and Audit Reports, which requires additional time after the release of the schema and testing.
In such a situation timely compliance is very difficult, with the increased complex transactions. Also, the 47-day time period for tax audits is too short, especially with additional requirements like MSME and GST reporting. Late release of the schema and utilities has left very little time for businesses and professionals to meet filing deadlines.
Technical Glitches on Portal
The associations mentioned that even after repeated official communications, the Income Tax e-filing portal continues to face technical glitches. These errors include:
- Frequent downtimes
- Regular scheme and validation changes
- AIS/TIS mismatches
- Duplicate entries in AIS through multiple reporting entities.
Fewer Working Days
The 66 days mentioned also had some important festivals like Rakshabandhan, Janmashtami, Onam, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid, etc. Additionally, The floods and heavy rainfall in northern India and Rajasthan have caused disruptions. All these things have reduced the working days.
Overlapping of Other Due Dates
At the same time, overlapping compliance requirements like GST, MCA, and Tax Audit, etc., for non-corporate entities have increased the workload on the professionals.
They wrote in the representation. This puts taxpayers and professionals at risk of penalties for delays that are out of their control.
Constitutional and Administrative Principles
The AGFTC and the ITBA also mentioned the settled principle that states that no one should be penalised for the actions that are out of their control. The current situation goes against the Taxpayer’s Charter and the Government’s commitment to “Ease of Doing Business“. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure timely and error-free compliance.
The Associations requested that the due dates must be extended without any penalty as follows:
| Compliance | Existing Due Date | Extension Required |
| Income Tax Return (Non-Audit Cases) | 15-Sep-25 | 15-Oct-25 |
| Furnishing Tax Audit Report | 30-Sep-25 | 30-Nov-25 |
| Income Tax Return (Audit Cases) | 31-Oct-25 | 31-Dec-25 |
| Transfer Pricing Report | 30-Nov-25 | 31-Jan-26 |
| Income Tax Return (Transfer Pricing Cases) | 31-Dec-25 | 28-Feb-26 |
| Belated Return | 31-Dec-25 | 31-Mar-26 |
Apart from requesting the due date extension, they also requested
- Stabilisation of the IT portal
- Removing failure of vendors
- Maintenance of the portal
- Reducing further changes in scheme or validations
They mentioned that without fixing the above issues, extending the due dates would be useless.
“We sincerely hope that the Government under the dynamic leadership of Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble FM Smt Nirmala Sitharaman would provide the requisite relief to the taxpayers at the earliest,” They Wrote.
