ITR Filing Deadline Extention: With only two days left before the main ITR deadline, many taxpayers are still asking the same thing, will the government give more time this year? The answer looks like no.
The Income Tax Department has extended return filing deadlines in earlier years, but for Assessment Year 2026-27 there is no official hint of any new extension. The department’s own e-campaign page is still telling people to file by 31st July 2026 and avoid the last-day rush.
CBDT sources told Business Today, “There is no such discussion on the table. We recommend that taxpayers file their taxes asap and not wait for the last-minute filing,”. Adhil Shetty, CEO of Bankbazaar, said the department has extended deadlines only in special cases and people should not expect a surprise change this year. Chandni Anandan of ClearTax also said, “With nearly two crore income tax returns already filed, taxpayers should not assume that the 31 July deadline will be extended,” and added, “Unless the government makes an official announcement, taxpayers should plan to complete their filing well before the due date.”
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The tax department has also been sending repeated reminders. Its July 27 message said, “AVOID LAST DAY RUSH. Stay ahead. File your ITR early on the e-Filing portal. Due date: 31st July 2026. Ignore if already filed. -IT Dept”. It also said on July 25, “Zero tax doesn’t exempt filing of ITR if income exceeds the basic exemption limit. File AY26-27 ITR by 31 Jul to avoid fee u/s 234F. – IT Dept”.
Past years show that extensions have happened, but not every time. In the last six assessment years, the deadline was pushed back in five cases. This year feels different because more than 4 crore returns have already been filed for AY 2026-27, and the portal has seen fewer complaints about technical trouble so far. The Income Tax Department’s own website also shows that ITR forms for AY 2026-27 are already live on the portal.
This was the Covid year, so the deadline moved many times. The original July 31, 2020 date was finally stretched all the way to January 10, 2021. That long extension came because the pandemic had badly disrupted normal filing work.
The deadline was first moved from July 31, 2021 to September 30, 2021. Later, it was extended again to December 31, 2021. This was one of the years when taxpayers got a lot of extra time.
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In this year, the government mainly gave more time for audit-related work. The extensions were not broad in the same way as during Covid. They were mostly tied to taxpayers who needed to submit audit reports.
No extension was announced for the ITR filing deadline in this year. Taxpayers had to follow the normal schedule.
Some audit-related dates were pushed ahead in this year too. The government gave extra time for certain taxpayers who needed audit reports, and some return filing dates moved as well.
The July 31, 2025 deadline was extended to September 15, 2025 because the new ITR forms were delayed and the system needed updates. It was then pushed by one more day to September 16, 2025.
For some business and professional taxpayers, the official FAQ for ITR-4 says the due date for AY 2026-27 is 31st August 2026. So not every taxpayer has the same deadline, but for the main July 31 group, the message from the department is still to file early and not wait for a last-minute extension.
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