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The Chandigarh Chartered Accountants Taxation Association (CCTAX) has formally petitioned the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for income tax return date extension for the Assessment Year 2025-26, citing a combination of persistent technical glitches, compliance hurdles, new ICAI reporting standards, and natural calamities that have left taxpayers and professionals struggling to meet the current timelines.

The representation, dated August 21, 2025, highlights that this year’s filing process has been unusually challenging and warns that without extensions, compliance quality and accuracy will be severely compromised.

⚙️ Portal Glitches: A Persistent Problem

The tax portal continues to be plagued by technical problems, including:

• Frequent server crashes and session timeouts
• Upload failures and delayed acknowledgements
• Widespread mismatches between the Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 26AS

These glitches have left taxpayers and Chartered Accountants unable to reconcile data properly, raising risks of errors and penalties.

🌊 Floods and Natural Calamities Disrupt Compliance

Widespread monsoon rains and flooding across multiple states—including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Bihar, Assam, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra—have disrupted power, internet connectivity, and office operations.

CCTAX argues that forcing deadlines in the midst of such calamities would unfairly penalise taxpayers and increase compliance stress; hence income tax return date extension is requested.

📊 Impact of New ICAI Financial Reporting Formats

Adding to the pressure, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has rolled out a new standardised reporting format for non-corporate entities this year.

Key changes include:

• A uniform vertical format for Balance Sheet and P&L accounts
• Mandatory inclusion of comparative figures from the previous year

Practitioners say these updates require training, updated software, and significant adjustments, which have been delayed due to utility slowdowns—compressing already tight deadlines.

⏳ Delayed Release of Utilities and Compliance Crunch

The delayed release of ITR and tax audit utilities is another major pain point. They were made available three months late, only starting to roll out in July 2025.

Combined with frequent schema changes, professionals have had barely 45 days to process, reconcile, and file returns.

As of August 20, 2025:

• 3.35 crore ITRs had been filed
• Compared to 7.41 crore by July 31, 2024
• A staggering 55% decline, with over 4 crore filings still pending

With just 25 days left to the September 15 deadline, compliance would require an unsustainable 15 lakh returns per day to match last year’s pace.

📅 Current vs. Proposed Deadlines

✅ Benefits of Income Tax return date extension (According to CCTAX)

• Ensures accurate and complete compliance
• Provides time for reconciliation with AIS & Form 26AS
• Offers relief to taxpayers impacted by natural disasters
• Allows smoother transition to new ICAI formats
• Strengthens tax administration reliability for FY 2024-25

🔮 What’s Next?

CCTAX President Dr. Balwinder Singh stressed that the mix of technical issues, new compliance requirements, delayed utilities, and natural calamities has made current deadlines unrealistic.

A decision from the CBDT is awaited for the income tax return date extension, as professional bodies nationwide push for a pragmatic extension to ensure smooth compliance.

This episode of income tax return date extension highlights the urgent need for digital resilience and adaptive tax administration, especially as India’s compliance regime becomes increasingly dependent on technology-driven systems.

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