Income Tax Return (ITR) filing is currently featuring among top keywords these days, according to Google Trends. The search volume has increased since the deadline for ITR filing is approaching. The last date for filing returns is 15th September 2025.
The government had announced in late May that the deadline for ITR filing was being extended from 31st July. By that time, the return filing for AY 2025-26 had not even started. The Finance Ministry clarified the reasons for extending the deadline and said that this time extensive changes have been made in the ITR forms and related utilities.
Delay in release of ITR forms and utilities
The ITR forms released by the tax department this year were changed both at the structure and content level. These changes were aimed at making compliance easier for taxpayers, making reporting more transparent and reducing errors.
However, these changes took additional time for system development, integration and testing. This was the reason why not only the ITR forms but also the corresponding utilities were made available late. This directly affected taxpayers as they were unable to start their filing in time.
How many ITRs have been filed so far?
According to the data available on the income tax website, 3.36 crore taxpayers have filed ITR so far, but out of these only 1.33 crore ITRs have been processed, that is, about 40% of the total returns filed. This situation remains a cause of concern among taxpayers.
Tax professionals demand extension of deadline
Due to the late availability of ITR forms and utilities, tax professionals are now openly saying that the current deadline of September 15 is not enough. They argue that it will not be possible to cover all taxpayers in such a short time.
Professionals say that if the deadline is extended further, it will provide relief to taxpayers and the government will also receive more accurate and error-free data.
Why is ITR Filing trending on Google Trends?
The growing concern about ITR filing is clearly visible on Google Trends as well. In the last 7 days, “ITR Filing” has been among the most searched keywords.
(Source: Google Trends)
This shows that as the deadline is approaching, people are constantly looking for information online —whether it is the method of filing returns, the option to download the form, or the hope of extension of the deadline.