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India extends the 2026-27 deadlines for audited taxpayers: tax audit report by 21 October, return by 21 November

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By TrustList Editorial

India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes moved the assessment-year 2026-27 deadlines for taxpayers whose accounts must be audited: the tax audit report is now due on 21 October 2026 and the return of income on 21 November 2026.

About India extends the 2026-27 deadlines for audited taxpayers: tax audit report by 21 October, return by 21 November

India extends the 2026-27 deadlines for audited taxpayers: tax audit report by 21 October, return by 21 November

28 September 2026: India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced on 28 September 2026 that it has extended two deadlines for assessment year 2026-27 for taxpayers whose accounts must be audited. The announcement came two days before the first of them was due. The CBDT said a formal order or notification would be issued separately.

The new dates

Filing	Old due date	New due date
Tax audit report (the "specified date")	30 September 2026	21 October 2026
Return of income	31 October 2026	21 November 2026

Who it covers

The extension applies to persons at serial number 2 of the table below Explanation 2 to section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. In practice these are companies and other assessees whose accounts are required to be audited, as Business Today describes them, "corporates". It covers Indian subsidiaries and branches of foreign companies that fall in that category.

The press release does not mention serial number 1 of the same table, which covers taxpayers that must file a transfer-pricing report. Those filers should not assume their dates have moved until the formal notification says so.

What to do

Finance teams and tax advisers of audited Indian entities can re-plan the audit sign-off for 21 October and the return for 21 November 2026.
Groups with transfer-pricing obligations should wait for the CBDT's formal notification before relying on any new date.
Update the dates in compliance calendars, and in any accounting, tax-filing or practice-management software that computes due dates, since such software will still show the old dates until it is updated.
Keep a copy of the notification, once published, with the filing records.

Related on TrustList:

FBR sets out faceless income-tax audits (SRO 1665) and a special tax procedure for social-media earnings (SRO 1641)

Sources

CBDT press release, Extension of due date for furnishing Return of Income for AY 2026-27, text as reproduced by GovtStaff - 28 September 2026
Business Today: ITR filing deadline for corporates extended to November 21 - 28 September 2026
ANI: CBDT extends I-T return filing deadline for audited taxpayers to November 21 - 28 September 2026

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