ITR deadline for businesses and professionals: Who gets time until October 31 to file their returns?

The income tax return (ITR) filing deadline for businesses and professionals is later than the deadline applicable to most individual taxpayers. The statutory ITR due dates remain fixed unless the government announces extensions or issues specific administrative clarifications due to exceptional circumstances.

Salaried individuals, students and pensioners had to file their returns by July 31, 2026, while businesses and professionals whose accounts were not required to be audited had until August 31, 2026. With both deadlines now past, taxpayers may be wondering who still has time to complete their ITR filing.

Certain taxpayers with income from business or professional services whose accounts are subject to tax audit still have time until October 31, 2026, to file their ITR for assessment year (AY) 2026-27.

Who qualifies to file ITR by October 31?

For professionals, audit is required when their gross receipts exceed ₹50 lakh in a financial year. For businesses, on the other hand, audit becomes mandatory where turnover exceeds ₹1 crore. However, where cash receipts and payments do not exceed 5% of total transactions, the threshold is increased to ₹10 crore.

This provision also applies to taxpayers opting out of presumptive taxation schemes such as Sections 44AD, 44ADA, 44AE, 44BB, and 44BBB, or those declaring lower income than prescribed under these schemes, subject to conditions including exceeding the maximum exemption limit.

The tax audit report must be completed before the specified date, defined as one month prior to the due date for filing the ITR. These audit reports must be filed electronically in prescribed forms, which include Form 3CA and Form 3CB.

Here's a list of taxpayers whose deadline is October 31 for filing ITR:

• Businesses requiring tax audit: Taxpayers with business income, who needs to undergo an audit under Section 44AB, must file their return by the October 31 deadline.
• Professionals subject to tax audit: Professionals whose gross receipts or income meet the prescribed tax-audit conditions also have an October 31 return filing deadline.
• Partners of audited firms: Partners of firms whose accounts are subject to tax audit may have the October 31 deadline, depending on the applicable income tax rules.
• Other taxpayers requiring an audit: Any other taxpayer whose accounts are required to be audited under other provisions of the Income-tax Act also have to file their return by October 31.
• Certain taxpayers under presumptive taxation: Being covered by this scheme does not always mean exemption from tax audit. In certain cases, including where declared income falls below the prescribed level or a taxpayer reports a loss, tax-audit requirements may apply.

Crores of ITRs already filed

A record over 7.8 crore returns were filed for AY 2026-27 as of August 31, the income tax department said in a social media post on Tuesday.

“A record 7.8 crore+ ITRs have been filed for AY 2026-27 as on August 31, 2026,” the department said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The filings include over 5.9 crore ITR-1 and ITR-2 returns, which were filed by the July 31 deadline.

To draw a comparison, over 7.3 crore ITRs had been filed by September 16, 2025, which was the extended deadline for non-audit taxpayers for AY 2025-26, according to an Upstox report.