Jodhpur, Sep 24 (IANS) The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday extended the deadline for filing tax audit reports to October 31, 2025, citing deficiencies in the income tax portal.

The order came during a hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Jodhpur Tax Bar Association.

A division bench of Justice Dr. Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Bipin Gupta issued an interim order directing the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Ministry of Finance to notify the extension. The next hearing has been scheduled for October 27.

Senior Advocate Dr. Vikas Balia and Advocate (CA) Pratik Gattani argued the case on behalf of the association’s president, CA Ajay Soni.

They pointed out that with the September 30 deadline approaching, completing 3.6 million pending audit reports was impossible.

Only 4,00,000 audit reports had been filed nationwide by September 23, against an annual average of 4 million. Tax professionals argued that delays were due to the late release of utility forms by the Income Tax Department.

The utility for Form 3CD was released on July 18 and underwent significant changes on August 14, leaving taxpayers with less than half the statutory time.

Lawyers from the Tax Bar Association said that taxpayers and tax professionals are facing difficulties due to the inordinate delay in releasing utility bills by the Income Tax Department.

The utility for filing tax audit reports (Form 3CD) was released on July 18, and major changes were made to it on August 14.

The statutory due date is September 30. This has left taxpayers with only 47 days.

Similarly, for filing the audit report, there were only 135 days left instead of 244 days.

For all audited cases, time left to file the ITR was 112 days instead of 214 days, and for transfer pricing cases, the time was 139 days instead of 244 days.

The petitioners said the burden caused by the department’s delays has unfairly fallen on taxpayers and professionals, who continue to demand relief nationwide.

–IANS

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