Kolkata: For crores of salaried taxpayers the ITR filing deadline is only four days away. Millions are now rushing to file their ITRs. It must be noted
that if you are a salaried taxpayerwith stocks and mutual fund transactions, July 31 is your ITR filing deadline. However, if you have made a single Futures and Options transaction in FY26, your deadline is not July 31. This is an important difference that many are not aware of.
Futures & Options, intra-day stock trading
India has been acknowledged as the Futures & Options capital of the world. An NSE report says that there were roughly 3,696.4 crore index options contracts and 4.1 crore index futures contracts on the NSE alone in FY26. About 25 lakh unique individual retail participants trade exclusively in the F&O segment in the last fiscal year.
The rules state that if you have bought and sold a stock on the same day even for once between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, or have made a single F&O trade in FY26, the deadline to file your ITR is August 31 and not July 31. In short, you have one more month. The reason: Intraday trading is regarded as speculative business and any gain (or loss) arising thereof is speculative business income. Also F&O trading is taxable under the head ‘Profits and Gains from Business or Profession’. Income or loss from F&O is treated as normal, non-speculative business income.
Deadlines according to ITR forms used
One can also classify ITR deadlines according to forms used to file ITRs. The following are the forms and their respective deadlines.
July 31, 2026: Salaried individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUF). They use ITR-1 or ITR-2 forms and do not require audits of accounts
August 31, 2026: Business and professional taxpayers using ITR-3 or ITR-4 forms. Their accounts need not be audited.
October 31, 2026: Businesses and professionals whose accounts must be audited and who use ITR-3, ITR-5, ITR-6, ITR-7 forms.
November 30, 2026: Businesses involved in international or specified domestic transactions requiring a transfer pricing report
Belated return, Revised return, Updated return
One must remember that even if you miss a deadline, you can file your income tax returns. The only point is that you might have to pay a penal charge and, depending on your case, arrear tax and/or interest on arrear tax. Heed the following deadlines:
December 31, 2026: Deadline for filing Belated Return, which is a late original return under Section 139(4). This comes with late fees of Rs 1,000 for annual income up to Rs 5 lakh, or Rs 5,000 for annual income upwards of Rs 5 lakh.
March 31, 2027: This is the deadline for Revised Return, which is field to rectify any omission/wrong statement in a previously filed return.
March 31, 2031: This is the deadline for Updated Return (ITR-U). It is filed to furnish missed or additional income up to 48 months from the end of the relevant assessment year. This calls for payment of extra tax.
