Paresh Chaudhary

Respected Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman Ji, @nsitharaman @PMOIndia I wish to draw your urgent attention to genuine and serious difficulties being faced by Chartered Accountants and taxpayers across the country in completing Tax Audit Reports for AY 2026–27 within the present deadline of 30 September 2026. The Income Tax Department confirms that the tax audit report for FY 2025–26 is governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 and is required to be furnished one month before the applicable ITR due date. The CA fraternity is working under an exceptionally compressed timeframe due to return-filing assignments, evolving and updated income-tax utilities, extensive reconciliation and verification, finalisation of financial statements, GST, TDS/TCS and other statutory compliances. This year, the workload has increased further with the implementation of the revised financial-statement framework for applicable non-corporate entities, including the requirement to present comparative figures in the prescribed format. This entails additional reconciliation, regrouping, documentation and professional review, requiring meaningful additional time. Section 44AB is not merely a form-filing exercise. It requires professional judgement, detailed examination of books and records, reconciliation, verification and responsible reporting through Forms 3CA/3CB and 3CD. The Department itself describes tax audit as a statutory reporting requirement intended to facilitate proper reporting and discourage tax avoidance and evasion. There is also a practical seasonal constraint. The last days of September coincides with major festivals and observances, including Ganesh Visarjan and Paryushan, resulting in reduced availability of clients, accounting personnel, audit staff and supporting professionals precisely when final clarifications, documents and reconciliations are required. A tax audit should be an exercise of deep scrutiny—not a race against the clock. Adequate time enables Chartered Accountants to identify discrepancies, verify transactions and ensure that the information ultimately submitted to the Revenue is accurate, complete and meaningful. Quality compliance requires time. Responsible certification requires time. Effective tax administration requires quality audits. Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 provides the CBDT with powers to issue appropriate orders for proper and efficient administration of the Act and, in appropriate circumstances, to address genuine hardship. I therefore request that the Ministry/CBDT may kindly extend the Tax Audit due date for AY 2026–27 from 30 September 2026 to 31 October 2026, along with consequential extension of the related return-filing and statutory compliance timelines, wherever necessary. With the existing deadline only a few days away, I request that this matter be considered urgently and sympathetically. An extension of time will enable deeper scrutiny, better professional diligence and more responsible tax compliance. With regards, Yours sincerely, Shaktisinh Gohil @CANITINCHAWLA @SumitRDas @CA_DHARMESH31 @CA_NirmalMishra