ITR forms yet to be notified by Income Tax Department: Will it lead to ITR filing deadline extension?

Economic Times

29-04-2025

Reasons for delay in ITR forms notification
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ITR forms and audit report utilities must be made available by 1st April of the assessment year.
Any delays must be justified with recorded reasons.
If delays impact taxpayers' ability to comply, authorities must consider extending filing deadlines and notify the public.
Will ITR filing deadline be extended due to delay in ITR forms?
The Income Tax Department is yet to notify the income tax return (ITR) forms for the financial year 2024-25 or assessment year 2025-26. Over the last 3-4 years, it has been seen that the Income Tax Department usually notifies the forms either before the end of the financial year or at the start of the assessment year. However, this year, the tax department has yet to notify the ITR forms, even though one month is about to pass.ET Wealth online decodes the reasons for the delay in the ITR forms notification and whether this delay could lead to an extension of the ITR filing deadline According to tax experts, there are certain reasons for the delay in the notification of ITR forms. These include income tax changes announced in the Finance Act in July 2024 and structural changes.Gopal Bohra, Partner, NA Shah & Associates - a tax consulting firm says, "If one look at the last three years release of ITR Forms by CBDT, it will be observed that ITR Forms are released well before the end of the relevant financial year for which taxpayer is required to file his tax return. For example, ITR Forms for AY 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 were notified on 30.03.2022, 10.02.2023 and 22.12.2023, respectively. For AY 2025-26, the ITR Forms have not yet been notified by CBDT. This delay could be attributed to the fact that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is trying to upgrade or fix their ITR utilities to accurately map the data fetched from various sources to avoid any error in processing the tax return."Usually, taxpayers who need to claim income tax refunds file their income tax return as early as possible so that they can get their income tax refund in a timely manner from the tax department.Ashish Karundia, Practising Chartered Accountant, says, "The delay in issuing the ITR forms and their corresponding utilities for AY 2025-26 may stem from enhanced disclosure requirements, integration with Annual Information Statement (AIS)/Taxpayer Information Statement (TIS) data, and the implementation of new provisions of income tax relevant to assessment year 2025-26. The intention could be to ensure a comprehensive verification process before ITR forms release, aiming for accurate data mapping to minimise errors and avoid mismatches that may lead to taxpayer grievances."Tarun Kumar Madaan, Practising Chartered Accountant, says, "The full Budget for FY 2024-25 was presented on 23rd July and became an Act in August 2024. In regular years, the Budget is presented in February and becomes an Act by March. So, the CBDT have sufficient time to make changes in ITR forms by adding relevant changes according to the changes in the income tax laws. This could be a possible reason for the delay in releasing forms. Further in Budget 2024, there were a lot of amendments and capturing them in ITR forms that will take time. At least that capital gains date of 23rd July 2024 and change in holding period & rate in all asset classes, removal of indexation, etc, are some of the changes that need time to incorporate in this year's ITR forms."It is important to note that certain court judgments have asked the CBDT to notify the ITR forms by April 1 to provide sufficient time to the taxpayers to file their income tax returns.Madaan says, "The timely availability of Income Tax Return (ITR) forms is crucial for enabling taxpayers to meet their compliance obligations within prescribed statutory timelines. Multiple High Courts have emphasised this through various landmark judgments, such as the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the Vishal Garg v. Union of India case, the Delhi High Court in Avinash Gupta v. Union of India and the Gujarat High Court in the case of All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants v. CBDT. Through these rulings, the courts across multiple jurisdictions, i.e., Punjab & Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat, have stressed that:The judiciary has consistently recognised the inconvenience and hardship caused by administrative delays and placed the responsibility squarely on the tax authorities to ensure smooth and fair compliance processes.There is a delay in notifying ITR forms, which means taxpayers will have less time to file their income tax returns. Will CBDT extend the ITR filing deadline from July 31, 2025, for AY 2025-26?Karundia says, "Ideally, these forms should be made available by March 31 to give taxpayers sufficient time to file their tax returns, especially since the deadline for ITR filing is fixed. As there is a delay in ITR forms, CBDT should extend the last date to file ITR."Concurring with the view Shah says, "In the past, it has been seen that if there is a delay in notifying ITR Forms or utilities, the CBDT has extended the due date of filing the tax returns. This year, also, almost one month has already been lost, and the ITR Forms and necessary utilities for filing the tax returns have not been notified. Therefore, taxpayers are deprived of this time for preparing the tax return and considering this, it is possible that CBDT may extend the due date."