Income Tax Return Filing Deadline Extended

If you haven’t submitted your income tax return for the assessment year 2025-26, there’s good news—the Income Tax Bureau has pushed the deadline to Tuesday, September 16. This means you can file your return without facing any penalties, at least for one more day.

Originally, the last day to file without a fine was Monday, September 15.

This tax return reflects income earned in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, and its extension comes after the filing application was halted due to some technical issues encountered on the initial deadline, according to reports from PTI.

Reasons for the Deadline Extension

The Income Tax Bureau stated that the deadline was moved to September 16 to provide additional time for taxpayers to submit their returns. This decision was made in light of technical difficulties with the electronic filing portal that occurred on Monday, which was exacerbated by heavy user traffic. Interestingly, Monday also marked the due date for second-quarter advance tax payments for this fiscal year.

Additionally, the e-filing portal underwent maintenance from midnight until 2:30 AM on Tuesday to accommodate necessary updates to its services.

If you had trouble accessing the E-Filing Portal on Monday, the department provided several troubleshooting checks that should help users resolve most access-related issues.

Record Number of Returns Filed

As of Monday, September 15, more than 7.3 crore income tax returns have been filed, surpassing last year’s total of 7.28 crore. It’s impressive, really. In the previous cycle—2024-25—7.28 crore returns were submitted by July 31. For 2023-24, the number was lower, at 6.77 crore, showcasing a steady increase in filings each year.