While taxpayers are required to meet strict timelines for filing income tax returns (ITRs), the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) of the Income Tax Department
also operates under a legally defined deadline. If you have filed your ITR for the relevant assessment year within the due date or even submitted a belated return by December 31, 2025, the CPC must complete its processing within a fixed time frame. For returns filed for the current assessment year, the outer limit for processing is December 31, 2026. If the CPC fails to act within this period, it forfeits its right to process the return further. Notably, even though the ITR filing deadline this year was extended from July 31 to September 16, the processing deadline applicable to the CPC has not been altered. What If Your ITR Is Not Processed On Time? Tax experts say that a missed deadline has clear implications for both taxpayers and the department. According to Balwant Jain, tax and investment expert, if the CPC does not process a return within the stipulated period, the acknowledgement generated at the time of filing effectively becomes the final communication under Section 143 of the Income Tax Act, according to a Livemint report. “Mandatorily, they are required to process it within nine months. The acknowledgement that comes during filing ITR will be treated as the final intimation for processing,” he told Livemint. Manikandan S, Manager, Taxation at ClearTax, explained in the report that the processing window is calculated as nine months from the end of the financial year in which the return is filed. For AY2024-25, the deadline falls on December 31, 2025. “As per the provision of section 143, if the CPC misses the 9 month deadline from the end of the financial year in which the return is filed, the return is deemed accepted as filed, and no adjustments(demands) can be made thereafter by the CPC system,” Manikandan told Livemint. No Obligation To Explain Delays Experts also point out that the CPC is not legally required to explain why a return has not been processed within the deadline. Balwant Jain clarified that the department is also under no obligation to formally inform taxpayers if their return remains unprocessed beyond the statutory time limit. Can Taxpayers Claim Refunds Legally? Even if processing is delayed, the Income Tax Department remains responsible for issuing valid refunds. Jain said that taxpayers can initiate the refund process by raising an online grievance through the income tax e-filing portal. ClearTax’s Manikandan echoed this view. “The taxpayers whose returns have still not been processed can raise a grievance ticket on the Income tax portal to claim their refund(plus interest), or they can approach their Jurisdictional Assessing officer to claim the refund,” he said, as per the report. In prolonged cases, legal recourse is also an option.
