All ITR forms notified for AY 2025-26 but you still can’t file your income tax return – Find out why

If you are preparing to file Income Tax Return (ITR), then this news is important for you. So far, the Income Tax Department has not made ready ITR e-filing utilities on its portal for Assessment Year 2025-26 (FY 2024-25).

What is the latest status on ITR utilities?

As of May 20, 2025, there is no update on the e-filing portal of the tax department, while forms from ITR-1 to ITR-7 have already been notified. This has raised the question in the minds of taxpayers whether the last date for filing returns will be extended this time too?

“The Income Tax Department has officially notified all 7 Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for Assessment Year (AY) 2025–26. However, despite the notification, taxpayers are currently unable to file their returns. This is because the Income Tax e-filing utility for these forms has not yet been made operational on the e-filing portal,” says CA (Dr.) Suresh Surana.

What are ITR utilities and how do they make difference?

The utility provides the structured digital interface necessary for form submission and validation, and its deployment is a prerequisite for filing returns either online or through offline upload. As such, taxpayers need to monitor the official e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) for updates regarding the availability of the utilities and plan their compliance accordingly.

The release of the utility is a crucial next step, as it incorporates schema validation, online digital interface, and system integration with third party softwares required for return submission. The e-filing functionality is typically rolled out in phases, beginning with simpler forms such as ITR-1 and ITR-4, followed by more complex forms.

Importantly, taxpayers will not be unable to file their income tax returns for Financial Year 2024–25 until these online utilities are released and activated.

Income Tax Dept released utilities in April last year

If you look at last year’s timeline, the department had started the facility of filing ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4 and ITR-6 in both online and offline mode on April 16, 2024.

“ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4 & ITR-6 for AY 2024-25 are enabled for filing in Offline as well as Online mode at e-filing portal. Excel utilities of ITR-1, ITR-2 & ITR-4 for AY 2024-25 are available under ‘Downloads’ button at e-filing portal,” the Income Tax Department said on April 16, 2024.

The ITR-3 and ITR-5 utilities came in the second and last week of May 2024, while the Excel utility for ITR-7 became available in July.

When will govt release online ITR utilities?

No official reason has been given by the department, but it is believed that this time due to several changes made in the ITR forms, technical preparations are taking time.

The I-T department has not specified an exact date for their release, but the rollout may begin in a phased manner starting with simpler forms like ITR-1 and ITR-4 between late May and early June, according to Dr. Surana.

He further said that until the e-filing utilities are released, taxpayers cannot file their returns for the financial year 2024–25, even if they have all the necessary information. This is because the return filing process requires either:

-Use of the online filing interface on the portal, or

-Upload of a JSON file generated using the official utility or compatible third-party software.

In the absence of these utilities, neither method is currently operational.

Will there be a deadline extension beyond July 31 due to delay in updating utilities?

While there was a slight delay in the ITR forms notification for Assessment Year 2025–26, and now the corresponding online utilities are still awaited, but despite this an extension of the 31st July 2025 filing deadline for non-audit cases is not currently anticipated.

Source: FINANCIAL EXPRESS