Income Tax Portal Buzz: Deadline Day Surge, No Extension, and Technical Challenges Explained

Today, September 15, 2025, marks the final deadline for taxpayers in India to file their Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the financial year 2024-25. Despite widespread appeals from chartered accountants and taxpayers for an extension, the Income Tax Department has firmly reiterated that no further extension will be granted beyond today’s midnight cutoff.

The deadline, originally set for July 31, 2025, was extended once earlier to September 15, yet the government officials have made it clear that the final date remains unchanged. This has caused a last-minute rush, with nearly 1 crore ITRs still pending filing as of yesterday, increasing the load on the Income Tax e-filing portal.

The portal has faced significant technical glitches due to this surge in simultaneous users, causing access problems for many seeking to complete their tax filing. To mitigate issues, the Income Tax Department released advisories recommending browser-related fixes and emphasized that the Annual Information Statement (AIS) can now only be downloaded directly from their official compliance portal, shutting down third-party access.

Taxpayers are advised to use the official incometax.gov.in website for filing and to track refunds securely through their PAN or Aadhaar authentication. The department provides an alternate refund status check on the TIN-NSDL portal, where taxpayers can monitor the progress of their refunds by entering PAN and assessment year details.

Alongside the deadline pressures, the Income Tax Department has also released several updates on utilities for various ITR forms, including offline and Excel-based versions for FYs 2021-22 through 2025-26, facilitating easier corrections and filings for different taxpayer categories.

Overall, despite technical challenges and last-minute rush, the Income Tax Department urges all taxpayers to comply with the current filing deadline to avoid penalties and maintain smooth tax compliance for the upcoming assessment year.