ITR Last Date 2026: Due Dates and Extension Status

The last date of ITR return for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26) is 31 July 2026 for salaried individuals and other non-audit taxpayers. As of 25 July 2026, no CBDT notification has extended this date. This page covers the confirmed due dates for individuals, companies and tax audit cases, and what history shows about extensions.

Is the ITR due date extend for 2026?

Not yet. CBDT extensions are typically issued only under exceptional circumstances, such as a major technical glitch on the e-filing portal, a natural disaster affecting filers in a region, or a late change to ITR forms or utilities. For the previous cycle, AY 2025-26, CBDT did extend the individual filing deadline from 31 July 2025 to 15 September 2025. That precedent explains why many taxpayers search for an extension every year, but a past extension does not guarantee one this year. Taxpayers should plan to file by 31 July 2026 and treat any extension as a bonus, not an assumption.

ITR filing due dates for AY 2026-27

The 31 August 2026 date for ITR-3/ITR-4 non-audit filers is a permanent change under the Finance Act, 2026, not a one-time extension, so business and profession taxpayers in this bucket get a full extra month compared to salaried filers every year going forward.

ITR filing due date for companies

Companies file their return in ITR-6. Since company accounts are mandatorily audited under the Companies Act, every company falls into the audit-case bucket regardless of turnover, so the ITR-6 due date is 31 October 2026, the same as other audit cases. There is no separate, earlier date for companies. Company taxpayers should also track the tax audit report deadline below, since the audit report has to be filed and accepted before the company’s ITR can be completed. Trusts and institutions filing ITR-7 that are also subject to audit follow the same 31 October 2026 timeline as companies.

Tax audit report due date and extension status

For taxpayers subject to a mandatory tax audit under Section 44AB, including companies, the audit report (Form 3CA/3CB and Form 3CD) is due by 30 September 2026, one month before the audit-case ITR deadline of 31 October 2026. As of 25 July 2026, no extension has been announced for the tax audit report due date either. CBDT has, in past cycles, extended audit-related deadlines separately from the individual ITR deadline when there were genuine portal or compliance issues, so audit cases should track official CBDT circulars specifically for their own due date rather than assuming an individual-taxpayer extension automatically applies to them.

What happens if you miss the ITR due date

Filing after the due date does not mean you cannot file at all. A belated return can be filed until 31 December 2026, but it comes with a late fee under Section 234F (up to Rs 5,000, or Rs 1,000 for smaller incomes) and interest on any tax that remains unpaid. Filing late also means certain losses, such as capital losses or business losses, cannot be carried forward to future years for set-off, which is often a bigger cost than the late fee itself. Filing on or before the applicable due date is always the safer option, and it also avoids the last-minute portal load that tends to build up in the final days before every deadline.

Revised return window extended to March 2027

For AY 2026-27, the revised return window has been extended to 31 March 2027, up from the earlier 31 December cutoff used in previous cycles. This gives taxpayers who filed on time but later discovered a genuine error, such as a missed deduction or an incorrect figure, significantly more time to correct their return without penalty, as long as the original return was filed within the due date or the belated-return window.

Why the ITR due date search spikes every year

Search interest in terms like “itr due date extend” and “last date of itr return” rises sharply every July because the deadline genuinely changes taxpayer behaviour: interest charges under Section 234A start accruing from 1 August if tax is still unpaid, and the late fee under Section 234F applies to a belated return. Because CBDT has extended the deadline in some past years but not others, taxpayers reasonably want to confirm the current year’s status rather than assume either outcome. It is also worth noting that although the Income Tax Act, 2025 comes into force from 1 April 2026, returns for AY 2026-27 continue to be governed by the older Income-tax Act, 1961, so the filing rules and due dates covered here follow the existing law, not the new Act.

Official resources to verify ITR due dates

Global Drishti will update this page immediately if CBDT issues any extension notification for the 31 July 2026 deadline, the tax audit report due date, or any other category listed above. Bookmark this page and check back closer to each due date rather than relying on unofficial forwards or social media claims about an extension.

Written By: GD Sarkari Naukri Desk

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