ITR Deadline Nears: Over 3 Crore Yet to File, Only 9 Days Left!
In May 2025, the Income Tax Department extended the deadline for filing the Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2024-25 (assessment year 2025-26) till September 15, 2025. However, in recent months, the results of ITR filing have not been what the tax department expected.
How Many ITRs Have Been Filed and Processed So Far?
According to the data available on the official website of the Income Tax Department as of September 04, 2025, more than 4.56 crore taxpayers have finished filing their Income Tax Returns (ITRs). Among these, 4.33 crore taxpayers have also e-verified their returns. However, among these, only 3.17 crore ITRs have been processed by the tax department so far. Meaning, a lot of taxpayers are still awaiting their returns to get processed and refunds to get credited. There are still over 3 crore taxpayers who are still getting ready to file their returns, and there are only 9 days left. As per the data, more than 13.33 crore users are registered at the Income Tax Portal, meaning they are eligible to file an income tax return (ITR).
In the previous assessment year, 2024-25, a total of 7.28 crore income tax returns (ITRs) were filed as of July 31, 2024, and on the single day of the due date, i.e., July 31, 2024, approximately 70 lakh returns were filed, which indicates the number of taxpayers filing the ITR rapidly increased in the peak days of ITR filing.
Who Should File Their ITR by the Due Date?
The due date for filing the Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2024-25 (assessment year 2025-26) is September 15, 2025. This deadline only applies to taxpayers not liable to get their accounts audited. Every year, the Income Tax Department sets deadlines for filing ITR for every financial year, and this deadline varies as per the type of taxpayer.
This financial year, the tax department extended the deadline for ITR filing much before the initial due date, i.e., July 31, 2025, citing various technical and operational reasons. Taxpayers whose accounts don’t need to be audited got 46 extra days to file their tax returns. Businesses and professionals whose accounts need to be audited have until October 31, 2025, to file their returns.
What Should Taxpayers Do?
- Taxpayers should never wait till the last date to file their income tax return (ITR); try filing your ITR as soon as possible.
- Several times, the IT e-filing portal often does not work and shows technical issues due to heavy traffic at the time of the due date.
- Late filing of returns not only attracts penalties but also leads to late refund processing.
