As of April 2025, the Income Tax Department has not yet notified the Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for the Financial Year 2024–25 (Assessment Year 2025–26). This delay has raised questions among taxpayers and professionals, especially since policies and tax structures for the year were already declared in advance through the Budget.
📅 Important Filing Deadlines for AY 2025–26
While forms are pending notification, the due dates for filing ITR remain as per the existing schedule unless changed by a future circular:
- 31st July 2025 – For individuals and entities not requiring audit
- 31st October 2025 – For businesses or professionals requiring audit
- 30th November 2025 – For entities requiring audit and also subject to TP (Transfer Pricing) provisions
Here are some likely reasons for the delay:
🔹 Technical or Portal-Readiness Issues
One of the more probable causes for the delay is backend readiness:
- The Income Tax e-Filing portal may still be undergoing updates to accommodate form changes or integration.
- Utility tools (JSON/Java/Excel versions) used by taxpayers and software vendors might still be under development and testing.
- The government may also be working on ensuring seamless syncing with AIS (Annual Information Statement)and TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) for pre-filled return data.
🔹 Pending Compliance Alignment
Recent years have seen the introduction of new reporting standards, such as:
- Cryptocurrency/VDAs disclosures
- Foreign income and assets reporting
- New rules on capital gains reporting in detailed schedules
Ensuring that ITR forms are aligned with such granular disclosures requires careful form design and review, which can delay final notification.
🔹 Possible Delay in Release Strategy
It’s also possible that the department is opting for a staggered release approach, where:
- Forms for simpler returns (ITR-1, ITR-4) are released first
- Detailed or complex forms like ITR-2, 3, 6 follow later
However, even this phased strategy hasn’t started yet, indicating a likely bottleneck in the approval or technical finalization stages.
Given the lack of structural changes in tax law for FY 2024–25, the delay in notifying ITR forms is most likely due to internal technical or procedural processes.
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