ITR Filing Due Dates
Income Tax Return (ITR) filing due dates in India are specified under Section 139 of the Income Tax Act, with the primary deadline of July 31 for non-audited individuals and HUFs, October 31 for taxpayers subject to tax audit under Section 44AB, and November 30 for those required to furnish transfer pricing reports — with belated and revised returns carrying separate timelines and fee implications.
Section 139(1) of the Income Tax Act mandates the timely filing of ITRs. For individual taxpayers not subject to tax audit — the vast majority of salaried employees, investors, and small business owners — the due date is July 31 of the assessment year (the year immediately following the financial year). For example, for income earned in FY2024-25, the due date for non-audit individuals is July 31, 2025. CBDT has extended this deadline in multiple past years due to technical glitches (FY2021-22 was extended to December 31, 2021), but extensions cannot be relied upon and taxpayers should target the statutory deadline.
Taxpayers covered under the mandatory tax audit framework under Section 44AB — including businesses with turnover above the threshold, professionals earning above the specified limit, and traders with below-presumptive profits — have a due date of October 31 of the assessment year. The audit report in Form 3CA/3CB and 3CD must also be filed by this date. Taxpayers required to furnish an international transaction or specified domestic transaction report under Section 92E (transfer pricing) have a November 30 deadline.
Filing after the due date but before December 31 of the assessment year is possible under Section 139(4) as a belated return. A fee under Section 234F applies: Rs 5,000 for taxpayers with income above Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1,000 for those with income up to Rs 5 lakh. After December 31, a belated return cannot be filed for the immediately preceding assessment year — the window closes. Taxpayers who miss the December 31 deadline must seek condonation of delay under Section 119(2)(b) from the jurisdictional tax authority, a discretionary process not guaranteed to succeed.
A revised return under Section 139(5) can be filed to correct errors or omissions in the original return — this is possible any time before December 31 of the assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier. Crucially, a belated return filed under Section 139(4) can also be revised under Section 139(5) within the December 31 window. However, a belated return has two tax disadvantages compared to a timely original return: first, losses (other than house property losses) cannot be carried forward if the return is filed after the due date; and second, the Section 234F fee is unavoidable.
For stock traders and investors with capital losses to carry forward — short-term capital losses, F&O losses, or speculative business losses — timely filing by July 31 (or October 31 for audit cases) is essential. A trader who misses the July 31 deadline and files a belated return by December 31 will still owe the Section 234F fee, and — more importantly — any capital losses declared in that belated return cannot be carried forward to offset future capital gains. This restriction makes deadline compliance particularly material for active equity and F&O traders.