ITR filing due date for audit cases to be extended by a month? Gujarat HC asks CBDT to do THIS
October 13, 2025
The CBDT recently issued a notification extending the deadline for submitting tax audit reports (Section 44AB) to October 31, 2025. However, no change was made to the ITR filing date (Section 139(1)).
In a relief for taxpayers, the Gujarat High Court has directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to extend the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline for audit cases. The court clearly stated that there should be a statutory gap of at least one month between the tax audit report and the ITR filing date.
The CBDT recently issued a notification extending the deadline for submitting tax audit reports (Section 44AB) to October 31, 2025. However, no change was made to the ITR filing date (Section 139(1)).
The Income Tax Bar Association filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court over this discrepancy. They argue that there should be a gap of one month between the submission of audit reports and the filing of ITR. Therefore, since the CBDT has extended the audit report date to October 31, the ITR filing date should automatically be November 30, 2025.
Petitioners’ argument
Petitioners argued that the one-month gap is not merely a formality but crucial for ensuring proper tax compliance. Large companies and complex audit cases should be given time to file their ITR after the audit report is prepared, otherwise the likelihood of errors or non-compliance increases.
Gujarat High Court’s observation
The Court said that Sections 44AB and 139(1) of the Act are interconnected, so simply extending the audit date while keeping the ITR filing date unchanged is not logical. He questioned what authority the CBDT had for extending one date and keeping the other unchanged.
It also stated that the one-month gap was deliberately introduced by the legislature to provide taxpayers with sufficient time to file their returns after the audit report is prepared.
Summing up…
Finally, the Gujarat High Court directed the CBDT to extend the ITR filing deadline for audited taxpayers to November 30, 2025, to maintain the one-month gap as required by law.
For now, until the CBDT issues a new notification, the ITR filing deadline for audit cases will remain October 31, 2025. However, following the court order, the CBDT is expected to extend the date to November 30, 2025 soon.
[The Financial Express]
