The Income Tax Department has released both online and offline utilities for filing ITR-5 for assessment year 2026-27. According to reports from Mint, the online utility was made available on 5 August, while the latest version of the offline utility was released on 7 August. The department has also updated technical files, with the latest JSON Schema released on 5 August and its first version issued on 7 July.
ITR-5 is applicable to persons other than individuals, HUFs, companies and those required to file Form ITR-7. As reported by Mint, the form is primarily used by entities such as firms, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), associations of persons (AOPs), bodies of individuals (BOIs), cooperative societies and certain trusts. Specifically eligible taxpayers include artificial juridical persons, local authorities, certain representative assessees, societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and trusts that are not required to file ITR-7.
For AY 2026-27, the applicable deadline depends on whether the taxpayer is required to get its accounts audited. According to Mint, business/profession income without tax audit has a deadline of 31 August, while cases requiring tax audit have a deadline of 31 October. Additionally, transfer pricing audit report (Form 3CEB) has a deadline of 30 November. Certain trusts, political parties, institutions and colleges that are required to file returns under sections 139(4A), 139(4B) or 139(4D) must use ITR-7 instead of ITR-5.
The online utility allows taxpayers to prepare and submit their ITR-5 directly on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal, using pre-filled information to reduce manual entry requirements. As reported by Mint, the offline utility can be downloaded and installed on a computer, with taxpayers preparing returns without internet connectivity throughout the process. The utility generates a JSON file that can then be uploaded to the e-filing portal for submission. The department has released offline ITR-5 utilities for Windows and Mac, along with an Excel-based version, with the standard offline utility being Version 1.0.0 and the Mac version also Version 1.0.0.
The Income Tax Department has updated technical files required for preparing and validating returns. According to Mint, the latest JSON Schema was released on 5 August, while its first version was issued on 7 July. A Schema Change Document (Version 1.1) and applicable validation requirements have also been made available. For taxpayers preferring offline filing, these utilities allow preparation of ITR-5 on computers and generation of required JSON files for e-filing portal submission.
