No, the Income Tax Return filing deadline for AY 2025-26 has not been extended by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Posts on various social media platforms may make you believe that the ITR filing due date has been extended. But it's not true.

For the last few days, several tax professionals and bodies representing them have been demanding extension of ITR filing and tax audit due dates. However, the Income Tax Department or the Finance Ministry has not responded to such demands yet.

If you don’t file ITR by the due date, you can file a belated return. However, a late filing fee of ₹5,000 will be applicable if your income is more than ₹5 lakh. If your income is ₹5 lakh or less, the penalty is capped at ₹1,000.

Further, non-payment of tax attracts interest, penalty and prosecution.

In case you fail to pay your tax liability, you can face rigorous imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years. If the evaded tax amount exceeds ₹25 lakh, the punishment could be 6 months to 7 years.

One must file ITR even if it's not mandatory, as it acts as proof of income and is important for loan and credit card approval, visa and other financial transactions.

ITR filing is also needed to claim refunds, carry forward losses, avoid future tax notices and can also be essential during visa processing.

• If your annual income is below ₹5 lakh, and you file your ITR after the deadline, a late fee of ₹5,000 would be applicable.

• If your income exceeds ₹5 lakh, the penalty would be ₹5,000.

• If you file ITR after the due date, you won’t be eligible to claim certain deductions, including under Section 10A, 10B, 80-1A, 80-IB, 80-IC, 80-ID and 80-IE.

In a post on X today, CA Chirag Chauhan shared the following issues faced by taxpayers on the Income tax e-filing portal since afternoon:

"Income Tax Portal issues since afternoon

• AIS/TIS takes 2 hrs to download.

• Tax payment pages hang, needing 3-5 refreshes.

• ITR uploading multiple errors.

"If portal is still problematic tomorrow, @IncomeTaxIndia should extend due date," he said.

For claiming a deduction under section 80G in old tax regime, the taxpayer is required to provide the details of donations in 'Schedule 80G' in the ITR form. This schedule has four tables: Table A, B, C, and D. Each of them corresponds to a different category of NGO/charitable institution. Taxpayers should ensure that donation information is entered in the correct table.

Section 87A rebate is available under the following conditions in the old regime:

• An assessee is a resident Individual

• Total Income does not exceed ₹5,00,000

• Maximum rebate allowed is 100% of Income tax or ₹12,500

The rebate under section 87A is not available to a non-resident individual, resident or non-resident HUF/AOP/BOI and company.

Further, a maximum rebate of ₹25,000 is allowed under section 87A from income up to ₹7 lakh in the new tax regime.

Source: Income Tax Dept

No. According to the Income Tax Department, deductions provided under Chapter VIA of the Income Tax Act cannot exceed the Gross Total Income (GTI). Income here means all the income accumulated in the GTI and reduced by the incomes mentioned below:

• LTCG under section 112

• STCG under section 111A

• Incomes referred to in sections 115A, 115AB, 115AC, 115AD, 115BBA and 115D

• Casual incomes like winnings from lotteries, horse races, etc., under section 58(4) of the Act.

The AIS and TIS facilities on the Income Tax e-filing portal are working properly and without any issues, according to the Income Tax Department.

The Upload level validation in Income Tax Return (ITR) filing refers to an automated process where the Income Tax Department’s e-Filing portal checks the return data during upload to ensure quality, accuracy, and compliance with prescribed validation rules. This validation helps in ensuring that incorrect or incomplete information does not get accepted by the e-filing portal. It also helps reduce errors, rejections and income tax notices later.

The Income Tax Department says that with effect from A.Y.24-25, the new tax regime has been set as the default tax regime. "This means that if the taxpayer does not specify their intent to choose the old regime, the income tax shall be payable as per the regime."

Taxpayers without any professional or business income can opt out of the new tax regime directly at the time of filing tax returns.

However, for Individuals, HUF, AOP (other than co-operative societies), BOI & Artificial Judicial Persons (AJP) having income from business and profession, Form 10 IEA is required to be filed to indicate the preference for the old tax regime.

No. If a salaried person is paying more rent than the HRA component in salary then excess amount can't be claimed as deduction. Under Section 80GG, deduction is denied to an assessee having any income falling under section 10(13A) (House Rent Allowance).

HRA exemption is allowed only under old tax regime

For salaried employees ₹1 lakh long-term capital gains from equity mutual funds, ITR-1 is suitable. For small business owners with similar income, ITR-4 will be applicable. As per current Income Tax Rules, long-term capital gains (LTCG) up to ₹1,25,000, which are taxed under Section 112A, can be reported in ITR-1 if there is no brought forward or carry forward capital loss.

On behalf of the All Odisha Tax Advocates Association (AOTAA), Bhartruhari Mahatab, a BJP MP from Cuttack, Odisha and the chairperson of the Finance Committee of Parliament, has written a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking due date extension. He request her to extend the due date for filing the Tax Audit Report for AY 2025-26.

PP Chaudhary, the BJP MP from Pali, Rajasthan, on behalf of Tax bar Association, Jodhpur, has also written to the Finance Minister, asking her to extend ITR due dates.

If you find that the information furnished in your AIS is incorrect, duplicate, or relates to any other person, then you can submit feedback on the AIS portal to get it corrected. Feedback for AIS information can be submitted online directly from the income-tax e-filing portal or offline utility.

It seems there is no chance of further extension of ITR filing due date for AY 2024-25. The Income Tax Department has not yet responded to any query around due date extension. If you haven't filed your return yet, you should understand that there isn't much time left. Try to finish your ITR as soon as possible.

The Income Tax e-filing portal is working fine. And it is not down or slow. Taxpayers shouldn't believe in any such rumours or social media posts that may claim that the IT portal is down. Instead, they should focus on filing their returns as soon as possible.

Even the Income Tax Department confirmed that the e-filing portal is working fine. In case you face any issues, you should try again after clearing your browser cache.

"Our checks show that the e-filing portal is working fine. You may please try again after clearing your browser cache or by using an alternate browser," the Income Tax Department said in response to a user's query on X.

Taxpayers should keep the following documents handy while filing ITR.

• PAN Card,

• Aadhaar Card

• Bank account details, including IFSC code and account number

• Form 16 for salaried individuals (must have been issued by your employer)

• Form 26AS (Annual Tax Statement)

• Annual Information Statement (AIS)

• Capital gains statements

• Tax-saving investment proof

• Investment proofs for deductions

• Supporting documents like rent receipts (for HRA) or interest certificates (for home loans)

IT major Infosys is planning a massive Rs 18,000 crore share buyback. At the time of ITR filing, this reminds of how to report such buybacks in your returns of income. Here's a brief guide:

If you gained from any share buyback in FY 2024-25, you need to report in your ITR, the deadline for which ends on Monday, September 15.

Tx on any buyback made after October 1, 2024 is applicable in the hands of the Company. The tax is payable by the recipient shareholder on the total amount received from the buyback. Such amount is deemed as a dividend in as per the newly inserted provision of Section 2(22)(f) is taxable under the head "Income from Other Sources".

This tax season, there’s a dangerous myth doing the rounds: 'No tax if your income is under ₹12 lakh'.

The truth, however, is that taxpayers are currently required to file ITR for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26) if their annual income is above the basic exemption limit, which is only ₹3 lakh in the new tax regime and ₹2.5 lakh under the old regime.

Log in at incometax.gov.in using PAN/Aadhaar and password or via net banking

Go to → e-File > Income Tax Return > File Income Tax Return

Select Assessment year AY 2025–26

Choose the ITR form applicable to you

Review pre-filled details like salary, TDS, bank interest, personal details, bank account

Add missing income/deductions and select tax regime (Old/New)

Submit and verify your return

Taxpayers should not wait for any due date extension. Even if the Income Tax Department decides to announce an extension of the deadline later, taxpayers will benefit by filing as soon as possible. Both for peace of mind and early refunds.

The Central India Regional Council of ICAI has said that the recent relaxation in timelines has been a welcome step; however, in view of the continuing complexities in reporting and the operational challenges being faced, there remains a pressing need for further extension of the prescribed due dates.

It further said that the staggered release of ITR forms has created significant workflow pressures on tax professionals and taxpayers alike. In addition, persistent technical and systemic bottlenecks on the Income Tax a-filing portal continue to impede timely submissions.

Even as tax professionals and various bodies representing them, like the Central India Regional Council of ICAI, have been asking for an extension of the ITR filing and tax audit due dates, there has been no response yet from the IT department.

Here are some recent posts of CAs on X

CA Vivek Khatri: "I am not currently practicing but am part of the CA community. On behalf of the community, I request @nsitharaman @IncomeTaxIndia to #extend_due_dates_immediately. The CA fraternity faces issues due to late ITR forms and frequent changes in the ITR forms."

CA AK Mittal: "Filled ITR 3 Months ago and the ITR is still not processed !! Reason : The ITR has a Refund of TDS. Dear @IncomeTaxIndia you can't process a already prepared ITR in 3 months and still want CA's to file ITR's in 1.5 Months timeframe ? #extend_due_dates_immediately"

The following details are required for claiming interest on home loan as a deduction under Section 24 (B) in your Income tax Return:

• Whether the loan is taken from a bank or other than a bank?

• Name of the bank/Institution/Person from which the loan is taken

• Loan Account number of the Bank/Institution

• Date of sanction of the loan

• Total amount of the loan

• Loan outstanding as on the last date of the financial year

• Interest on borrowed capital u/s 24(b).

No. The Income Tax Department has not announced any further extension of the due date. Instead, it has urged taxpayers to complete their returns before the due date.

Taxpayers are required to make the following disclosures while claiming HRA under the old tax regime:

• Place of work (metro or non-metro)

• Actual HRA received

• Actual rent paid

• Salary details as per Section 17(1)

• Enter the amount in the relevant column of '50%/40% of salary'

Misreporting or underreporting any income/deductions in ITR can lead to the following consequences:

• Up to 50% penalty on taxes due to under-reporting
• Up to 200% penalty on due taxes due to mis-reporting
• Potential prosecution in extreme cases

Yes. The ITR forms for Assessment Year 2025-26 require all taxpayers to provide some additional details while claiming deductions under various sections of the Income Tax Act, 1961. These additional disclosure requirements apply to the following deductions:

• House Rent Allowance

• Interest on home loan

• Investment-related deductions

• Health insurance

• Interest on loan taken for specific purposes

The Income Tax Department's e-filing portal shows 5,47,93,630 returns were filed till September 11, 2025, which is around 15 lakh more than the 5,30,07,987 returns till September 10, 2015. Of the 5.47 crore returns filed, taxpayers have verified over 5.14 crore returns, while the Income Tax department has processed more than 3.66 crore verified returns.

Nearly 8 crore taxpayers are expected to file their returns in 2025. This means that around 2.5 crore returns are still pending as of September 12, 2025. Last year, 7.28 crore returns were filed up to the July 31 deadline.