Why is 'Extend Due Date Immediately' trending again in 2025 before the ITR filing deadline?

In the last few years, the demand to 'extend the due date immediately' has become a recurring trend just days before the deadline.

At around 3 PM on September 8, Monday, there were more than 9000 posts on X with hashtag "#Extend_Due_Date_Immediately". A quick overview of the posts shows that the trend has been created mostly by tax professionals and chartered accountants.

Tax professionals are also demanding an extension in the deadline for the income tax audit.

Why is there a demand for immediate due date extension?

On September 5, 2025, the BJP Chartered Accountant (BJPCA) Cell, Pimpri, Chinchwad, which claims to represent over 11,000 CAs from Pune city, wrote to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking an extension of the due dates for tax audit reports and income tax refunds for AY 2025-26.

"As per official records of the Income Tax Department, the Pune region had nearly 75 lakh registered taxpayers in FY 2018-19. With consistent growth, this number is expected to have crossed 1.5 crore taxpayers in FY 2024-25. In the larger interest of such a vast taxpayer base and the professionals serving them, an extension of the statutory due date is both critical and justified," they said.

• Non-audit ITRs: 15th September 2025
• Tax audit reports (TAR) under Section 44AB: September 30, 2025
• ITRs in audit cases: October 31, 2025

The BJPCA Cell said meeting the above deadlines is "proving extremely difficult due to several genuine hardships".

What's the extended deadline demanded by tax professionals?

Various tax professionals, including the BJPCA Cell, have demanded the following new dates for various ITR compliances:

• Non-audit ITRs: From 15th September 2025 to September 30, 2025

• Tax audit reports (TAR) under Section 44AB: Form September 30, 2025 to November 30, 2025

• ITRs in Audit cases: October 31, 2025: From October 31, to December 31, 2025.

Several other X users have pointed out various issues faced by them on the e-filing portal.

One X user names CA Maneesh Soni pointed out the massive number of returns that are yet to be filed in the next seven days.

Another X user named CA Ruchita Vaghani said on September 7, "More than 6000 tweets on demand on due dates extension topic. which clearly indicates the mood of nation. again humbly request to @nsitharaman @IncomeTaxIndia to extend income tax and tax audit due dates for smooth compliance."

CA Himank Singla posted, "Delayed release of Utilities...ITR-6/7 offline utilities still not available...ITR-5 Offline Utility made available 2 days back...Technical glitches and errors in released Utilities...Extension is not our demand but our right!!

According to the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal, over 4.89 crore returns for AY 2025-26 were filed till September 7, 2025. Of these, the taxpayers have verified over 4.63 crore returns, while the Income Tax department has processed more than 3.35 crore verified returns.

There is no update yet from the Income Tax Department on the demand to extend the due date. Instead, the tax department has urged taxpayers to file their returns early and not wait for the deadline.