The 2025 tax season has been anything but smooth for thousands of taxpayers across India. While the government had already extended the deadline for filing income tax returns from July 31 to September 15 earlier this year, new concerns are emerging that may warrant another extension. The delay in releasing critical utilities for Forms 5, 6, and 7 is now causing anxiety among tax professionals, firms, and individual taxpayers alike.
These forms are used by a significant portion of the taxpayer base, including trusts, partnership firms, and companies. According to experts, these entities number in the lakhs, and many of them have yet to begin the filing process simply because the required utilities are still not available. The Excel-based version of ITR-3 is out, but its more convenient online JSON utility is still missing. More importantly, both online and offline filing options for Forms 5, 6, and 7 have yet to be released by the Income Tax Department.
This is not the first delay in the current tax season. The ITR forms were released late in May, with significant structural changes that required backend system upgrades. After that, utilities were rolled out slowly, with Excel-based tools being made available in phases. But many taxpayers rely on the JSON-based online utility for ease of submission, and its absence is now squeezing the available time window for compliance.
The government had initially justified the first extension to September 15 by pointing to these exact issues. Now, with less than two months remaining, the same problems persist. As a result, tax experts believe that unless the utilities are issued soon, an extension will become inevitable.
Chartered accountant and tax expert Dr. Suresh Surana stated that no official word has come from the Central Board of Direct Taxes so far regarding a further extension. However, he noted that the technical delays have significantly limited the time available for filing, especially for those dealing with audit and compliance-heavy returns. In previous years, similar technical and administrative challenges had led the CBDT to extend deadlines, giving filers adequate time to meet their obligations.
Despite these challenges, the official deadline remains in place. As of now, September 15 is the due date for ITRs that require audit, October 31 is the deadline for tax audit cases, and November 30 is the deadline for returns requiring transfer pricing reports.
Many professionals and taxpayers are anxiously watching for any updates from the Income Tax Department. Until a formal notification is issued, the current deadlines must be considered final. If the filing utilities for Forms 5, 6, and 7 are not made available soon, the government may face mounting pressure from taxpayers and industry bodies to announce another extension.
This year’s filing cycle serves as a reminder that effective communication and timely infrastructure rollout are essential to ensure smooth compliance. For now, all eyes remain on the next move by the tax authorities.
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