July 31, 2026 continues to be the last date on which salaried taxpayers and pensioners can file their income tax return for the financial year 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27), as the Income Tax Department has not announced any extension of the deadline. Taxpayers with business or professional income, however, have additional time to file their returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of now, there is no intimation from the Income Tax Department on extension of the ITR filing deadline. This means that for now July 31, 2026 continues to be the last date on which salaried taxpayers and pensioners can file their income tax return. However, taxpayers with business or professional income have additional time, with different deadlines applicable based on their specific circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The due dates to file ITR for different types of taxpayers for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27) are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Finance Act, 2026 has introduced greater flexibility by allowing taxpayers to revise both original and belated returns within 12 months from the end of the relevant tax year. For tax year 2025-26, this means a revised return can be filed up to March 31, 2027, on payment of the applicable fee of Rs 5,000 or Rs 1,000, depending on the taxpayer’s income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A belated return can still be filed within nine months from the end of the relevant tax year. For the 2025-26 tax year, this means the return can be submitted by December 31, 2026. However, a late filing fee of up to Rs 5,000 will apply, which is reduced to Rs 1,000 if the taxpayer’s income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, interest at the rate of 1% per month is charged on any unpaid tax from the original due date until the return is actually filed. Interest on any default in the payment of advance tax will also continue to accrue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are wider consequences apart from the penalty amount. Taxpayers cannot carry forward losses to future years, except for losses under the head house property. They also lose the option of switching between the old and new tax regimes at a later stage, if required. Since the new tax regime is the default regime, any return filed after the due date is automatically processed under the new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the new tax regime, income up to Rs 4 lakh is exempt from tax, whereas under the old tax regime, the exemption threshold is Rs 2.5 lakh. If your taxable income crosses these limits, filing an ITR becomes necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from income, certain specified financial transactions can also make ITR filing mandatory. These include, among others, incurring electricity expenses of Rs 1 lakh or more during the year or spending more than Rs 2 lakh on foreign travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Budget 2026 broke up the old one-size-fits-all July deadline. Salaried individuals, pensioners and investors filing ITR-1 or ITR-2, which include those with salary, capital gains, interest or one to two house properties, still face July 31, 2026 deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But taxpayers with business or professional income who are not subject to audit, filing ITR-3 or ITR-4, now get a full extra month until August 31, 2026. This extension is provided under Section 263(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 2025, which came into force from April 1, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has extended the deadline for these taxpayers to ease compliance, reduce last-minute rush, and allow smoother filing under the upcoming Income Tax Act framework. Earlier, the due date for these taxpayers was July 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taxpayers who have not yet filed their returns are advised to do so before the deadline to avoid penalties and interest charges. Those who miss the July 31 deadline can still file a belated return by December 31, 2026, but will have to pay the applicable late fee and interest on any unpaid tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
July 31, 2026 continues to be the last date on which salaried taxpayers and pensioners can file their income tax return for the financial year 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27), as the Income Tax Department has not announced any extension of the deadline. Taxpayers with business or professional income, however, have additional time to file their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-biusinessfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2728,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions\/2728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}