The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently extended the due date for filing tax audit reports by a month to October 31, following orders from two high courts – Rajasthan and Karnataka – of the country. This extension triggered a debate on whether the ITR filing date should also be considered extended by a month since many assume that the ‘specified date’ for filing audit reports should be one month before the due date for filing returns under Section 139(1).
The tax department, however, is yet to clarify on the matter for assessees falling under audit cases.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat High Court has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to explain why it did not extend the due date for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR), even though the audit report deadline was pushed by a month to October 31.
A bench of Justice Bhargav Karia and Justice Pranav Trivedi raised this question while hearing petitions filed by different tax practitioners’ bodies, including the Income Tax Bar Association. These associations requested the court to direct the CBDT to extend the tax audit report deadline.
On September 24, 2025, Karnataka High Court and the Rajasthan High Court also nudged the tax department to extend the deadline for filing tax audit reports (TARs) under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Tax professionals complained about technical issues and delays in accessing key utilities on the Income Tax e-filing portal. They took to social media to complained about login failures, slow portal performance, and difficulties accessing important documents such as the Annual Information Statement (AIS).
‘Specified date’ for filing audit reports should be one month before ITR filing due date’
The CBDT extended the deadline for filing audit reports from September 30 to October 31. However, the petitioners’ counsel argued that under Explanation (ii) of Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, the ‘specified date’ for filing audit reports should be one month before the due date for filing returns under Section 139(1). Hence, the department should also have issued a notification extending the ITR filing deadline for FY 2024–25 to November 30, the counsel said.
The petitioners also referred to a Gujarat High Court order from September 2024 on a similar issue, where the court had observed that the government cannot extend the deadline for filing tax audit reports without also extending the ITR filing due date, as doing so would override the provisions of the Income Tax Act.
Moreover, since Section 119 of the Act does not give CBDT the power to relax provisions of Section 44AB, it clearly shows the legislative intent that the ‘specified date’ for audit reports cannot be extended without also extending the ITR filing ‘due date’.
Why no simultaneous notification for extension of ITR filing due date?
Citing last year’s order, the HC bench says: “In view of the above decision of this Court, whereby the due date for filing the return under Section 139(1) is deemed to have been extended after one month from the extension of the specified date by the respondent Board, in our opinion, the respondent Board is required to explain why a simultaneous notification for extension of the due date has not been issued.”
The High Court will hear the matter further now on October 6.
Let us understand what experts have to say on this. The original due date for filing tax audit reports was September 30, 2025, which has now been extended to October 31, 2025. However, this does not automatically extend the current ITR filing due date of October 31, 2025, experts said. For that to happen, CBDT would need to issue a separate notification specifically extending the return filing deadline, they opined.