The ITR filing deadline for FY 2025-26 is July 31, 2026. While the income tax portal technically opens on April 1, actual return filing usually begins only after the backend systems and forms are fully updated and stabilised. As reported by Mint, ITR filing activity typically gains pace around mid-May each year, with the actual filing season starting after the initial weeks when systems are still being updated.
According to Nishant Shanker, a tax strategy expert and former senior manager of tax at EY, certain tax documents and statements may still be getting updated during the initial weeks of filing season. TDS details, interest income, and high value transactions reporting (SFT) are typically uploaded by employers, banks and financial institutions by 31 May, but take another couple of weeks to fully reflect in Form 26AS, AIS and TIS. As reported by Mint, financial institutions and employers may subsequently revise or correct their filings, with revised TDS returns, corrected interest reporting or updated securities transaction data flowing into the system after initial upload.
Avoiding early income tax filing becomes particularly relevant for taxpayers with capital gains, multiple bank accounts, foreign assets, business income or substantial financial transactions. According to Shanker's analysis reported by Mint, reconciliation of AIS, Form 26AS, Form 16/Form 16A and other transaction records becomes critical before filing the return for these categories. Important data that usually gets fully updated by mid-June includes TDS entries in Form 26AS, AIS updates, SFT reporting, bank interest reporting, dividend income reporting, mutual fund and stock transaction reporting, and revised TDS returns by employers.
As reported by Mint, income tax scrutiny is largely system-driven today, with the system flagging returns when income reported in the ITR does not match AIS, Form 26AS, or SFT data that gets updated later. Siddharth Maurya, Founder & Managing Director of Vibhavangal Anukulakara Private Limited, warns that AIS should not be relied on as a final document as there are many areas where the data may be incomplete, duplicated, or incorrectly classified. This is especially true for stock market transactions and capital gains reporting, where AIS may report gross sales but ignore purchase cost, grandfathering, and corporate actions like stock bonus and stock splits.
Before filing ITR, taxpayers should ideally reconcile AIS, Form 26AS, Form 16, and bank statements, verify all TDS credits carefully, match capital gains with broker reports, check carry-forward losses from earlier years, review deductions claimed under Chapter VI-A, verify exempt income disclosures, ensure foreign asset disclosures are complete where applicable, validate bank account details for refund purposes, and review turnover and GST reconciliation for businesses/professionals. As reported by Mint, taxpayers should keep supporting documentation ready in case of future queries and avoid blindly relying on AIS for intraday trading and F&O cases, requiring verification with Form 16 and reports from brokers, banks, mutual funds, and certificate of interest.
