KDCAA, ATBA and Other Bodies Urge to Extend ITR Deadline Due to Portal Glitches
Recently, many professional bodies, including the Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA), the Central Council (CIRC) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Advocates Tax Bar Association (ATBA), the BJP CA Cell, etc., have submitted a representation to the Ministry of Finance explaining the several problems being faced by the taxpayers.
The ITR Due date was earlier extended from July 31, 2025, to September 15, 2025, for the non-audit cases. But the due date of the tax audit report filing is still the same, i.e., October 31, 2025.
As per ATBA, the due date for non-audit ITR should be extended to October 30, 2025, and the tax audit report filing deadline should be extended to November 30, 2025. They also mentioned the decision of the Supreme Court in Collector, Land Acquisition v. Mst. Katiji (167 ITR 471) and CIT v. Kulu Valley Transport Co. (77 ITR 518), where it was held that the compliance deadlines are for the justice and not for punishing the taxpayers who are facing genuine difficulties, including the technical error on the income tax portal, delay in release of updated ITR utilities, flood situation across many cities in India, and increased compliance burden due to festive seasons.
The Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA) has also submitted a representation to the Finance Minister, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman. In the representation, KSCAA has highlighted some hardships that are currently being faced by the taxpayers and professionals. The KSCAA submitted the following hardships:
- Late Release of ITR and Audit Forms: The ITR forms, such as ITR-5, 6, and 7, and the audit forms, like 3CA/3CB/3CD, Form 10BB, were supposed to be released in April as usual. But instead, they were released in July-August.
- Technical Issues: The Income Tax portal continues to face several glitches, affecting timely compliance. Issues include incorrect CGAS prompts under Sections 54/54F, AIS mismatches with duplicate entries, TDS misreporting (even on exempt income), and regular schema changes requiring repeated revalidations.
- Overlapping compliance burdens: The GST, MCA, and Tax Audit filings are overlapping with return deadlines.
Additionally, KSCAA also mentioned that these issues can result in an increased number of default taxpayers. They will have to pay interest and a late filing fee for the difficulties that were out of their control. They urged the Finance Minister to take necessary steps to solve these issues so that taxpayers can ensure compliance.
Similarly, the Central India Regional Council (CIRC) of ICAI mentioned practical challenges faced by taxpayers, professionals, and other stakeholders that affect the time for filing Tax Audit Reports for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26).
The CIRC said that the ITR extension for non-audit cases is appreciated, but the late release of ITR forms has put a heavy burden on tax professionals. They further said that the ongoing technical and systematic issues on the e-filing portal of Income Tax are also making it difficult for taxpayers to make timely submissions.
They also mentioned that the taxpayers have to meet the GST filings, company law obligations, including annual return and financial statement filing with the MCA. These overlapping obligations are making it difficult to complete tax audits correctly and on time.
On the other hand, the Advocates Tax Bar Association urged extending the ITR due dates as follows:
- Non-Audit ITRS (Individuals and Others): October 30, 2025
- Tax Audit Report and Other Audit Reports: November 30, 2025
- ITR Filing in Audit Cases: December 31, 2025
- Renewal of 12A/80G Registrations: December 31, 2025
- Transfer Pricing (Form 3CEB): January 31, 2026
- Renewal of 12A/80G registrations: December 31, 2025.
