'I'll do it tomorrow' can lead to deadline-day panic, warns income tax department ahead of July 31

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the department used a relatable message to caution taxpayers against procrastination. "'I'll Do It Tomorrow' often turns into deadline-day panic," it said, urging eligible taxpayers to reconcile their documents and complete their income tax return (ITR) filing before the due date.

The department advised taxpayers to review all relevant documents before submitting their returns. This includes checking details in Form 16, the Annual Information Statement (AIS), Form 26AS, bank statements and other income records to ensure the information reported in the return is accurate.

"'I'll Do It Tomorrow' often turns into deadline-day panic. Don't wait for July 31, 2026 to file your ITR-1 & ITR-2 for AY 2026-27. Reconcile your documents and file ITR-1 & ITR-2 for AY 2026-27 today!" read the post by tax department.

The reminder comes as the Income Tax Department has already received more than 4.5 crore income tax returns for AY 2026-27 as of July 27. With just 4 days left before the deadline, tax professionals also recommend avoiding a last-minute rush, which can increase the chances of errors or delays if taxpayers discover mismatches in their income details or tax credits.

This is also the first assessment year in which different categories of taxpayers have different filing deadlines. While most salaried individuals, pensioners and other taxpayers filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 need to submit their returns by July 31, 2026, eligible non-audit business and professional taxpayers filing ITR-3 or ITR-4 have until August 31, 2026.

This was stated by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question on whether the government is aware that there has been a significant increase in the number of billionaires in the country and that it is among the leading nations in the world in this regard.

In a written reply, Chaudhary said there is no statutory definition of the term 'billionaire' either under the Income-tax Act, 2025 or under the erstwhile Income-tax Act, 1961.

However, the number of individuals having reported gross total income of ₹100 crore or more in the Income-tax Returns (ITRs) filed in Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26 stood at 576. This is a sharp 4-fold spike from 142 reported in AY 2021-22.

The number of individuals with gross total income of ₹100 crore and above was 301 in AY 2022-23, dipping to 284 in AY'24, before rising to 415 in AY'25.