India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes has temporarily extended deadlines for income tax return filing and audit reports for assessment year 2026-27, responding to professional pressure and maintaining robust tax collections.
India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes has given taxpayers subject to audit under the Income-tax Act more time to wrap up their compliance work for assessment year 2026-27. In an official statement issued on Monday, the tax authority said the deadline for filing income returns in these cases has moved from October 31 to November 21, while the date for submitting the audit report has been pushed from September 30 to October 21.
The change applies to companies and other assessees whose accounts must be audited under the law, including partners in firms whose books are subject to audit, according to Business Standard and The Times of India. The CBDT said a formal notification would follow separately, and described the extra time as a way to help taxpayers and auditors complete the audit process and file documents on the income-tax e-filing portal more easily.
The extension comes after pressure from chartered accountant bodies and tax professionals, who had been asking for more breathing room to finish audit procedures, verify disclosures and reconcile figures across financial and tax records, Reuters-style reports in local outlets said. Several of those reports noted that practitioners had sought an October 31 deadline, arguing that the existing timetable was too tight for audit cases.
The move also lands against a backdrop of solid direct tax inflows. Government data showed net direct tax collections rising 13% to more than Rs 12.12 lakh crore between April 1 and September 17, while gross collections climbed more than 15% to Rs 14.3 lakh crore. Corporate tax receipts increased 19.48% to about Rs 5.56 lakh crore, personal income tax and Hindu undivided family collections rose 6% to more than Rs 6.16 lakh crore, and securities transaction tax jumped 53% to Rs 40,214 crore. Refunds also rose by more than 29%, crossing Rs 2.2 lakh crore in the period.
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