This week, ‘income tax audit report due date’ was among the top keywords on Google Trends as taxpayers and tax professionals kept demanding an extension of the deadline on social media and otherwise. The reason was technical difficulties on the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal.
Chartered accountants and tax professionals reported that login failures, slow servers, and difficulties accessing crucial documents like the Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the e-filing portal were making it difficult to upload tax audit reports on time.
The matter became so serious that writ petitions were filed in the Karnataka High Court and Rajasthan High Court. Both high courts directed the CBDT to grant a one-month extension.
CBDT’s decision
Following this pressure and court recommendations, the CBDT finally issued an official statement on September 25th. It said that in view of the representations made by tax practitioners and their submissions in the courts, the last date for filing tax audit reports for the assessment year 2025-26 has been extended from September 30, 2025, to October 31, 2025.
Govt says no glitches on the portal
However, the CBDT categorically denied that there has been any problem with the portal. The tax department maintains that the e-filing portal is fully stable and functional, and tax audit reports are being uploaded without any problems.
Why did this become a top trend?
Every small and big update related to the deadline — whether it was complaints from tax professionals, petitions filed in court, or official notifications from the CBDT — all combined to make this keyword trend continuously on Google. This is why it remained among the top keywords in the search history for the last 7 days.