The Gujarat High Court on Monday directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to extend the due date for the filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for audit cases to November 30 to comply with the provisions of the Income Tax Act, which provide for a one month gap between the filing of the audit report and the ITR. The HC directed the CBDT to issue the circular by October 16 notifying the new extension for ITR filing and file a compliance report before the court. The order could impact several assesses, who are subject to audit. The HC order comes in a petition that challenged the “inconsistency” in the recent notification of the CBDT, which had extended the due date for the filing of audit reports under Section 44AB of the income Tax to October 31, 2025 but did not specify the corresponding extension for the ITR filing under the relevant sections of the Act. The Division Bench of Justice Bhargav D Karia and Justice Pranav Trivedi, in an order dictated in open court on Monday said, “We direct the respondent board to issue a circular extending the due date of filing of return up to November 30, 2025 for assesses who are required to file audit report. CBFT to issue such a circular. and file compliance report on or before October 16.” Advocate Avinash Poddar, who represented one of the petitioners – the HC was hearing clubbed petitions in the case – told The Indian Express that the submissions made before the court laid emphasis on the explanations of the Act, which clearly establish that “specific date” for filing the audit report must precede the deadline for filing ITR by one month. Poddar said, “As per the Section 139(1) of the Act, the provision for the due date for filing ITR is to be a month after the due date for filing the audit report. In simple terms, the CBDT ought to have specified the extended deadline for filing ITR returns if it had specified the extension of filing audit reports. But it was unintentionally left unexplained…” Poddar added the HC order of Monday would be applicable to all assesses subject to auditing. He said, “There had been multiple petitions across the country seeking extension in the deadline for filing audit reports. The Rajasthan HC first directed the extension of the deadline for the audit report, followed by the Karnataka HC. Now the Gujarat HC has specifically directed that the ITR date has to be extended in an explicit notification to comply with the provisions.” The court ordered on Monday, “Specified date means the date one month prior to the due date for furnishing return of income under Section 139 (1). Therefore, there is no question of extending the specified date (of filing audit reports) unless and until the due date of furnishing return of income tax is extended. if the specified date is extended (for audit reports). the due date has to be extended accordingly by one month from the date of extension of the specified date (of audit report).” The court will hear the matter on October 16 when the CBDT has been directed to file a compliance report in the court.
