The last date for Income Tax Return (ITR filing AY 2025-26) is now just 4 days away. This deadline will end on September 15, 2025. In such a situation, crores of taxpayers would like to see another extension in the return filing deadline. The finance ministry extended the deadline for taxpayers in May this year by 46 days, from July 31 to September 15. In this write-up, we will take a look at data pertaining to income tax returns (ITRs) filed, verified and processed by the tax department. Based on the figures, it can be said how realistic the chances are in favour of the ITR due date extension.
How many ITRs have been filed so far?
A total of 5.30 crore returns have been filed, according to data updated on the portal of the Income Tax Department till September 10. Out of these, 4.99 crore income tax returns have been verified and around 3.58 crore returns have been processed. However, there are still crores of returns to be filed and it is interesting to see how many more returns get filed till the September 15 deadline.
ALSO READITR filing deadline nears: System glitches leave taxpayers racing against time, calls for extension grow Taxpayers’ problems and anxiety
This year, many taxpayers and CAs say that glitches, Form 26AS and AIS data mismatch, and heavy traffic on the e-filing portal have made filing difficult. While the daily speed of ITR filing has been less than 20 lakh in the last few days, 2.7 crore returns are to be filed in the next 5 days (expecting that 10% more returns could be filed in the current assessment year). This means that more than 54 lakh ITRs will have to be filed every day, which is much more than the current trend.
Fear of penalty and late filing
For missing the ITR deadline, taxpayers may have to pay a penalty under section 234F. If your annual income is more than Rs 5 lakh and you do not file ITR on time, then a penalty of up to Rs 5,000 can be imposed. Those whose income is less than Rs 5 lakh will have to pay a penalty of Rs 1,000. Apart from this, late filing delays the refund and also does not get the benefit of loss carry forward.
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