The Income Tax Department extended the last date for filing the Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2024-25 (assessment year 2025-26) to September 15, 2025, in May this year. However, the figures show that the pace of income tax return filing is not what the tax department expected.
How many ITRs have been filed and processed so far?
As of September 4, 2025, data available indicates that more than 4.56 crore people have filed their ITRs, out of which more than 4.33 crore have also e-verified their returns. But the department has processed around 3.17 crore ITRs so far. That is, a large number of filers are still waiting for their ITR to be processed and the refund. Additionally, more than 3 crore income tax return filers must be gearing up to file their ITR in the remaining 11 days.
As of July 31, 2024, as many as 7.28 crore income tax returns were filed for AY 2024-25. Nearly 70 lakh ITRs were filed on a single day on 31st July, 2024, which shows that the number of people filing returns goes up exponentially in the last few days before the deadline.
Who should file their ITR by September 15?
The ITR filing due date for AY 2025-26 is September 15, but not for everyone. This deadline is meant for those whose accounts are not liable to be audited. The Income Tax Department releases different dates every year for different types of assessees for filing of their income tax returns for the previous financial year.
The government this year announced the ITR filing date extension much before the July 31 deadline, citing some technical and operational reasons. This gave taxpayers whose accounts do not need an audit an additional 46 days to complete their tax return filing responsibility.
Taxpyers (businesses and professionals) whose accounts need to be audited will have time till October 31, 2025 to file their tax return.
Why is it important to file ITR on time?
If you do not file the return by 15 September 2025, you will have to pay late fees and penalty. In case taxpayers whose accounts need to be audited miss this deadline, they can file a belated income tax return before December 31, 2025, with a penalty up to Rs 5,000.
Besides the penalty, late ITR filers will also have to pay interest on the tax due. So if in your case there is tax due, you will have to pay interest of 1% every month on it (under section 234A).
Can there be another extension in the return filing deadline?
As mentioned above, the government has already extended the due date, from July 31 to September 15. Now, whether the Income Tax department will decide to extend the date further totally depends on the ITR filing figures over the next one week. So, if the total ITR filings reach at least last year’s numbers, then we might not see another extension in the due date. Also, it will depend on how smooth the tax return filing process is and whether there are any technical glitches found over the next 10 days or so.
What should taxpayers do?
-Don’t wait till the last minute, file your ITR as soon as possible.
-The e-filing portal often faces problems due to heavy traffic near the deadline.
-Filing late not only leads to a penalty but also delays in refund processing.
Summing up…
The next 11 days are going to be challenging for both the Income Tax Department and taxpayers. If you have not filed ITR yet, take immediate action and do not wait for the last moment.