Short answer: for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), the tax audit report is due by 30 September 2026 and the return for audit cases by 31 October 2026. Late filing of the audit report attracts a penalty under Section 271B of 0.5% of turnover, capped at ₹1,50,000 — subject to relief for reasonable cause.
With the salaried filing season closed, this is the window that matters for businesses and professionals.
The dates for this season
| Obligation | Due date |
|---|---|
| Return — ITR-1 / ITR-2 filers | 31 July 2026 |
| Return — ITR-3 / ITR-4 filers not liable to audit | 31 August 2026 |
| Tax audit report — Form 3CA or 3CB with 3CD | 30 September 2026 |
| Return of income, audit cases | 31 October 2026 |
| Transfer pricing report, where applicable | 31 October 2026 |
| Return where transfer pricing applies | 30 November 2026 |
| Belated return under Section 139(4) | 31 December 2026 |
| Revised return under Section 139(5) | 31 March 2027 |
The 31 August date is new, and it is permanent. The Finance Act 2026 amended Section 139(1) to give non-audit filers of ITR-3 and ITR-4 — business and professional income — a due date of 31 August rather than the common 31 July. This is a statutory amendment rather than a departmental extension granted by circular, so it applies from AY 2026-27 onward rather than for this year only.
The distinction that matters is audit liability, not the form number. A taxpayer filing ITR-3 who is liable to audit under Section 44AB follows the 31 October date; an ITR-3 filer not liable to audit follows 31 August. Which of the two applies is therefore decided by the Section 44AB test set out below, not by which return you happen to file.
Extensions are sometimes granted by the Board close to a deadline. Planning around one is a poor strategy — the extension, if it comes, arrives too late to be useful to anyone who was relying on it.
Whether audit applies to you
The thresholds under Section 44AB:
- Business — turnover exceeding ₹1 crore, extended to ₹10 crore where cash receipts and cash payments are each 5% or less of the total. Most businesses operating digitally satisfy that test comfortably.
- Profession — gross receipts exceeding ₹50 lakh. This is a flat limit; the digital-receipts relaxation that raises the business threshold does not apply to it.
- Presumptive opt-out — a taxpayer who used Section 44AD and then declares income below the presumptive rate, while exceeding the basic exemption limit, can be brought into audit. The presumptive taxation guide sets out that trap and the five-year lock-in that goes with it.
Applicability is decided on the numbers rather than assumed from last year — a business that was outside the threshold in the previous year can be inside it now. The audit and assurance page covers the wider position, including statutory and internal audit.
What late filing actually costs
Section 271B provides a penalty of 0.5% of total sales, turnover or gross receipts, capped at ₹1,50,000.
Two points are worth knowing:
It is not automatic. Section 273B allows the penalty to be dropped where there was reasonable cause. Serious illness, records seized in a search action, and delay attributable to a previous auditor have been accepted in practice. But reasonable cause must be pleaded and evidenced — it is not applied on its own.
File the report even if you are late. The audit report and the return are separate obligations. Getting the report on record limits exposure under 271B even where the return slips, and treating them as one deadline is a common and costly error.
Separately, a return filed after the due date loses the ability to carry forward business losses, which for a loss-making year is frequently a larger consequence than the penalty itself.
The step that catches people out
After your auditor uploads the report, you must accept it from your own login on the e-filing portal. An uploaded report sitting unaccepted is not filed, and the deadline keeps running.
This is among the most common reasons a report completed well before the deadline is nonetheless treated as late. Check the acceptance status yourself rather than assuming that upload concluded the matter.
What to have ready
The audit stalls on the same items every year. Having these ready compresses the timeline materially:
Books and financials
- Trial balance, profit and loss account and balance sheet for FY 2025-26
- Ledgers, cash book and bank book
- Last year's audited financials and tax audit report
- Fixed asset register with additions, deletions and depreciation working
Third-party confirmations
- Bank statements for the full year, all accounts, with reconciliations
- Closing stock statement with the basis of valuation
- Debtor and creditor balances, with confirmations where material
- Loan statements and interest certificates
Tax records
- GST returns for the year and reconciliation of GST turnover with books
- TDS returns filed, challans, and Form 26AS
- Advance tax and self-assessment tax challans
- Details of any related-party transactions
Specific to Form 3CD clauses
- Cash payments above the permitted limit, if any
- Loans and deposits accepted or repaid otherwise than by banking channel
- Payments to related parties
- Amounts disallowable for TDS default
- Employee contributions to provident and other welfare funds, with actual deposit dates
That last one deserves attention. Employee contributions deposited after the due date under the relevant labour law are disallowed, and the position has been settled against taxpayers. It is examined every year, and the deposit dates should be reconciled before the auditor raises them rather than after.
The reconciliation that decides how smoothly it goes
GST turnover against books. Differences are normal — GST turnover includes items that books treat differently, and the treatment of exports, credit notes and schemes creates genuine gaps. What matters is that each difference is explained and documented rather than discovered mid-audit.
If the two do not tie and no one can say why, the audit slows down and the difference becomes a question in every subsequent proceeding, because both figures sit in the department's own data.
Under the Income-tax Act 2025
| Concept | 1961 Act | 2025 Act |
|---|---|---|
| Books of account | 44AA | 62 |
| Tax audit | 44AB | 63 |
| Presumptive taxation | 44AD, 44ADA, 44AE | 58 (consolidated) |
| Return filing | 139 | 263 |
Audits for FY 2025-26 remain under the 1961 Act. Form and rule numbering is being revised for the new regime, so the applicable forms for a later year should be confirmed rather than carried over. The section mapping guide covers the wider renumbering.
Due dates and thresholds are stated for AY 2026-27 and can be varied by the Board. Whether audit applies in a particular case depends on the figures and the nature of the activity, and should be confirmed against them.