If you run a small business or freelance and haven't filed yet, you may have seen two different deadlines this week: 31 July and 31 August. Both are correct, just for different people, and picking the wrong one costs you a fee you didn't need to pay.
If you have business or professional income and your accounts don't require an audit, your ITR for FY 2025-26 is due on 31 August 2026, not 31 July. The change comes from the old Income-tax Act, 1961 — not the new one that took over this April.
The extra month applies only to non-audit business and professional taxpayers filing ITR-3 or ITR-4: freelancers, consultants, shopkeepers, most partnership firms. Salaried individuals filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 still had to file by 31 July. Miss 31 August and you can file until 31 December 2026, but a late fee applies, and any TDS refund sits unclaimed until you do.
Who actually gets the extra month
The due date for filing a return depends on what kind of income you have, not on which form you use. For assessment year 2026-27 — the return filed in 2026 for money earned between April 2025 and March 2026 — the law sorts taxpayers into four groups.
| Who you are | Due date |
|---|---|
| Anyone covered by transfer pricing rules under Section 92E | 30 November 2026 |
| Companies, and other assessees whose accounts must be audited (not covered by 92E) | 31 October 2026 |
| Business or professional income, accounts not required to be audited | 31 August 2026 |
| Everyone else, mainly salaried individuals with no business income | 31 July 2026 |
The third row is new. Until this year, non-audit business income sat in the same bucket as salaried taxpayers, both due 31 July. The amendment split that bucket in two. The business and professional group — anyone under the presumptive schemes in Sections 44AD or 44ADA, and most partners in unaudited firms — got an extra month.
Whether your accounts need an audit depends on turnover. A business crosses the audit threshold at ₹1 crore, or ₹10 crore if at least 95% of receipts and payments are digital. A professional crosses it at ₹50 lakh in gross receipts (₹75 lakh under the same digital condition). Below those figures, you sit in the 31 August group by default, whether or not you actually opted for presumptive taxation.
Where this actually comes from
This isn't a one-off CBDT extension of the kind the tax department sometimes issues under pressure close to a deadline. It's a permanent change to the statute.
Section 5 of the Finance Act, 2026 rewrites Explanation 2 to Section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 — the clause that defines "due date" for return filing. The Gazette of India published the amended text on 31 March 2026. It gave the change effect from 1 March 2026, a date before the Finance Act itself was even notified. That backdating is the government confirming the new table was always meant to govern this filing season, not a future one.
Before the amendment, Explanation 2 had three categories: transfer-pricing cases, audit cases, and "any other assessee." Non-audit business income fell into that third, catch-all category, alongside salaried taxpayers, both due 31 July. The amendment adds a fourth, dedicated category for business and professional income where no audit is required, and gives it 31 August.
Why it isn't Section 263
Search for this deadline and a good share of the results credit "Section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 2025." That's the new Act, the one that replaced the 1961 law on 1 April 2026. It's the wrong section for this filing season. The mistake is understandable, because Section 263 is the section that will eventually do this exact job.
The Income Tax Department's own guidance on the transition is specific. Assessment year 2026-27 is the last assessment year under the old Act. Returns, revisions and assessments relating to it stay governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, even though you file them after the new Act came into force. The Income-tax Act, 2025 takes over from tax year 2026-27 onward: income earned from 1 April 2026, filed in 2027. Section 263 of the new Act does carry a similar due-date table with its own August category. But it has no bearing on the return due in the next few days.
Put plainly: much of the coverage got the number right and the law wrong. The number is the useful part for a reader with a deadline this week. The section matters more if you're a chartered accountant citing it in an appeal, or explaining to a client why two advisories disagree.
What it costs to miss it
Missing 31 August doesn't shut the door. You can still file a belated return under Section 139(4). For this assessment year, that window stays open until 31 December 2026, or until your assessment is completed, whichever comes first.
It isn't free. Section 234F charges a late fee of ₹5,000 for filing after the due date. If your total income is ₹5 lakh or less, the fee is capped at ₹1,000. That fee sits separately from any interest owed under Sections 234A, 234B and 234C if you also underpaid tax during the year.
There's a cost beyond the fee, too. If a client deducted TDS on your invoices during the year, that money sits credited against your PAN until you file and claim it. A freelancer who skips filing because "no tax is due" isn't avoiding a bill. They're leaving a refund uncollected.
The revised return window is longer now
The same Finance Act amendment touched Section 139(5), the provision for correcting a return after you've filed it. Previously, a revised return had to be filed within a fairly tight window. The rewritten sub-section now lets you file a revised return any time up to the end of the relevant assessment year, or before your assessment is completed, whichever is earlier.
For AY 2026-27, that end date is 31 March 2027. File by 31 August, spot an error later, and you now have until the end of March 2027 to fix it, not a matter of weeks.
Common mistakes
- Assuming 31 August applies to everyone with business income. It doesn't apply if your accounts require an audit; that group is due 31 October.
- Filing under ITR-1 or ITR-2 by 31 July when you actually have presumptive business income that belongs in ITR-4. Using the wrong form doesn't move your due date.
- Treating the extra month as a reason to delay. Belated filing still triggers a fee under Section 234F, and any advance tax shortfall keeps accruing interest regardless of when you eventually file.
- Citing "Section 263" for a return you're filing this season. That section governs tax year 2026-27 onward, not assessment year 2026-27.
Frequently asked questions
Is 31 August 2026 a fixed rule now, or could it be pushed further? It's a statutory due date under Section 139(1), not an administrative extension, so it doesn't move on its own. The government can still issue a one-off extension close to the deadline, as it has in some past years. No such extension is in effect as of this date.
I file under Section 44ADA. Which date applies to me? 31 August 2026, because your accounts aren't required to be audited below the ₹50 lakh receipts threshold (₹75 lakh where cash receipts are 5% or less).
What if I miss 31 August — how long do I actually have? You can file a belated return until 31 December 2026, or before your assessment is completed, whichever is earlier. A late fee under Section 234F applies once you cross 31 August.
Does the new Income-tax Act, 2025 apply to this year's return at all? No. Assessment year 2026-27, including this due-date change, is governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961. The new Act governs tax year 2026-27 onward, filed from 2027.
Do partners in an unaudited firm also get 31 August? Yes. Partners of a firm whose accounts aren't required to be audited, and their spouse where Section 5A applies, fall in the same 31 August category as the firm.