ITR Filing deadline: For the last one week, tax professionals were constantly demanding that the date of filling ITR be extended from September 15 to September 30. However, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), under the Ministry of Finance, granted only 24 hours of time at the last moment.
CBDT increased the deadline from 15 September to 16 September 2025. The announcement was also made a few minutes before the deadline ended on 15 September. Let us know why the government did not extend the deadline to file ITR till 30 September.
Government has already increased deadline
The government had reduced the last date of ITR filing in non-audit cases for assessment year 2025-26 to 15 September. It was announced only in May 2025.
This means that the government has already given sufficient time to most taxpayers to file returns. Nevertheless, the government gave an additional relief of one day due to huge crowd and disturbances on the portal on the evening of 15 September and extended the deadline till 16 September.
There was no big problem on the portal
If there was a major technical problem on the income tax portal, the government could have further extended the date. However, before September 15, only light complaints came on the portal, not a big disturbance.
Experts believe that extension is given only when people are not able to file ITR due to a huge crowd or major problem on the portal. Sometimes the pressure of professionals bodies also works. However, the government has been very strict about the deadline for some time.
Most people have already filled ITR
By the night of 15 September, about 7.3 crore people had filed ITR. The kind of crowd on the portal, it is clear that the figure will overtake the 7.28 crore returns filled during the 31 July deadline of 2024. By 6 pm on September 15, more than 7 crore returns had been filed.
The Income Tax Department wrote on X (first Twitter), ‘By September 15, more than 7 crore ITRs have been filed and this number is increasing continuously! We thank taxpayers and tax professionals. And those who have not yet filled ITR, appeal to them to fill immediately. ‘
Deadline’s importance decreases
If the government had once again increased the deadline for more days, then the taxpayers would have got some relief, but the importance of the deadline would have reduced. In such a situation, many taxpayers feel that the government will increase the deadline even after 30 September.
This would have increased late-latency. This means for the government- delay in tax collection, slowing down and reduced the importance of deadline. This is the reason that the government gave a message by giving only 1 day of time that it is very strict about the deadline.
Now what should taxpayers do?
Taxpayers should not expect any more extensions and fill the returns immediately. Late will only increase difficulties, while now only one day’s deferment is left. If you miss the deadline of September 16, you will have to pay penalty and more tax. Also, you can be deprived of many benefits like Los Carrie Forward.
Also read: If you miss the deadline, you have to file a billet or updated itr; Know the terms and conditions