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The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently extended the deadline for filing tax audit reports under Section 44AB to October 31, 2025. However, the due date for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) under Section 139(1) remained unchanged.
This prompted the Income Tax Bar Association to approach the Gujarat High Court, highlighting the inconsistency. They argued that there must be a minimum gap of one month between the submission of the tax audit report and the filing of the ITR. Accordingly, if the audit report deadline has been moved to October 31, 2025, the ITR due date should logically be extended to November 30, 2025.
Taking note of the issue, the Gujarat High Court directed the CBDT to extend the ITR filing deadline for audit cases. The Court observed that Sections 44AB and 139(1) are interlinked, and extending the audit report date without adjusting the return filing date lacks justification. It further questioned the CBDT’s authority to modify one deadline while leaving the other unchanged.
The Court also emphasized that the statutory one-month gap between the audit report and ITR filing was intentionally provided by the legislature to give taxpayers reasonable time to complete their returns after the audit is finalized.
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