1 week ago
Tax Audit and ITR Deadlines Form Two-Stage Compliance Process
Some taxpayers have to complete two related tasks.
First, their tax audit report must usually be uploaded by 30 September.
Then they must file and verify their income tax return by 31 October.
The audit report checks and explains the business’s financial records.
The ITR uses information from those audited records.
Finishing the audit does not mean the tax process is complete.
Taxpayers should check income, expenses, deductions, taxes, and losses carefully.
They should also compare figures with tax statements and GST records.
If the audit report has a mistake, they should quickly tell their chartered accountant and correct it when required.
For AY 2026-27, taxpayers subject to tax audit generally face a 30 September audit-report deadline and a 31 October ITR deadline.
Tax audit reports must be filed in Form 3CA-3CD or Form 3CB-3CD, depending on the taxpayer’s circumstances.
Individuals and HUFs with business or professional income generally use ITR-3, while eligible presumptive-taxation taxpayers use ITR-4.
Taxpayers must reconcile audited figures with their ITR, AIS, Form 26AS, GST data, and tax-payment records before filing.
If an error is found in a filed audit report, taxpayers should notify their CA and submit a revised report where applicable before finalising the ITR.
- Who
- Taxpayers subject to tax audit, including individuals and HUFs with business or professional income, along with their chartered accountants.
- What
- A two-stage compliance process involving submission of a tax audit report followed by filing and verification of the ITR.
- Where
- The tax audit report is uploaded to the income tax portal, and the ITR is subsequently filed and verified.
- When
- For AY 2026-27, the general audit-report deadline is 30 September and the ITR deadline is 31 October; transfer-pricing cases have deadlines of 31 October and 30 November, respectively.
- Why
- The deadlines serve different compliance purposes and require taxpayers to reconcile audited financial information with their tax return.
Key facts
- Assessment year
- AY 2026-27
- General audit-report deadline
- 30 September
- General ITR deadline
- 31 October
- Transfer-pricing audit deadline
- 31 October for taxpayers liable to report under Section 92E
- Transfer-pricing ITR deadline
- 30 November for taxpayers liable to report under Section 92E
- Applicable ITR forms
- ITR-3 generally applies to individuals and HUFs with business or professional income; ITR-4 applies to eligible presumptive-taxation taxpayers.
- Audit-report forms
- Form 3CA-3CD or Form 3CB-3CD, depending on the nature of the taxpayer
Quotes
Siddharth Maurya
Managing Director of Vibhvangal Anukulara
“The September 30 deadline doesn’t refer to the ITR. It means the deadline for the submission of the tax-audit report. The ITR comes later and consists of the financial and audit information.”
livemint.com
“Even if we meet the deadline for our tax audit, ITR compliance is not yet complete. The return still has to be filed within the due date applicable to us.”
livemint.com
Sources
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