10 days to ITR-1 and ITR-2 deadline: How ITR filings for AY 2026-27 compare with last year

There are only 10 days left to file income tax return (ITR) forms 1 and 2 for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26).

The first deadline is July 31, 2026, for filing ITR-1 and ITR-2. Individuals with income from pension, salary, capital gains and other non-business sources are required to file their returns for AY 2026-27 by this date.

The second deadline is August 31, 2026, by which individuals with income from business and profession, not subject to an audit, are required to file their returns.

How many returns have been filed so far?

According to data available on the Income Tax e-filing portal, nearly 3 crore returns (2,99,19,219) had been filed for AY 2026-27 till July 20, 2026. Of these, 2.83 crore returns had been verified by taxpayers, while 1.73 crore ITRs had been processed by the Income Tax Department.

How does the ITR filing data compare with last year?

For AY 2026-27, the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal does not provide a form-wise breakup of returns filed so far. However, given that separate deadlines have been prescribed this year for taxpayers with non-business income and those with business income, one can reasonably assume that most returns filed so far have been under ITR-1 and ITR-2. With this assumption, a comparison of total returns filed this year till now with the returns data for ITR-1 and ITR-2 for AY 2025-27 suggests that about 1.5 crore returns are yet to be filed in ITR-1 and ITR-2 forms to match the previous year's level (4.49 crore filed last year versus 2.99 crore filed so far this year).