ITR filing due date extension history: How many times ITR deadline has been extended in 5-10 years

With the income tax return (ITR) filing season in full swing, taxpayers are requested to file their ITR on time and not wait until the last minute. As of August 19, 2025, over 3.2 crore returns have already been filed for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26).

While the Income Tax Department is actively addressing taxpayer queries on social media, the final deadline for non-audit cases is September 15, 2025. Given that the deadline is less than a month away, taxpayers should not assume that the date will be extended again.

Although the government has extended the ITR deadline in the past, including an extension this year from July 31 to September 15.

These extensions are usually granted for specific reasons such as technical glitches, delays in releasing ITR utilities, or extraordinary circumstances.

Relying on a last-minute extension is a risk that could lead to late-filing fees and other penalties. It is highly advisable to file your return well before the deadline to avoid a last-minute rush and potential issues with the e-filing portal.

• For FY 2024–25 (AY 2025–26), the ITR deadline for non-audit taxpayers, originally set for July 31, 2025, was extended to September 15, 2025. This extension was attributed to delays in notifying new ITR forms and necessary system updates.

• The most notable extensions occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the financial year (FY) 2019–20 (assessment year 2020–21), the original ITR filing deadline of July 31, 2020, was extended multiple times, eventually to January 10, 2021.

The Government, through multiple notifications in 2020 and early 2021, extended the due dates for filing Income Tax Returns and audit reports for AY 2020–21 in light of COVID-19 disruptions and stakeholder challenges.

**Initial Extension: **

The ITR due date for all taxpayers for FY 2019–20 was first extended from 31st July/31st October to 30th November 2020. Accordingly, the due date for audit reports was extended to 31st October 2020.

For taxpayers requiring audit/international reporting: ITR due date extended to 31st January 2021

For other taxpayers: ITR due date extended to 31st December 2020

Audit report due date extended to 31st December 2020

Audit cases and companies: ITR due date extended further to 15th February 2021

Others: ITR due date extended to 10th January 2021

Audit reports: Due by 15th January 2021

Vivad Se Vishwas declarations: Extended to 31st January 2021

Order/notice deadlines under Direct Taxes and Benami Acts extended to 31st March 2021

For taxpayers with self-assessment tax liability up to ₹1 lakh:

Due date extended to 15th Feb 2021 for audit/international reporting cases

Extended to 10th Jan 2021 for others

• Similarly, for FY 2020–21 (AY 2021–22), the deadline was extended from July 31, 2021, to December 31, 2021, due to continued disruptions and technical issues with the newly launched income tax portal.

In total, there have been three major ITR deadline extensions in the past decade, primarily due to exceptional circumstances like the pandemic and systemic upgrades.