Accountants Plead for Diwali Deadline Extension on GST Filing

On October 17, 2025, the Bombay Chartered Accountant Society (BCAS) has urged the Union Finance Ministry to extend the due date for filing GSTR-3B returns for September 2025. The current statutory deadline of October 20, 2025 clashes with the Diwali festive period, leaving businesses, accountants, and GST professionals with a "highly restricted compliance window."

BCAS highlighted that the GSTR-3B return involves several essential steps, including reconciling sales and purchases, examining input tax credit, and securing funds for tax payment. However, with the Diwali celebrations taking place between October 19 and 23, employees and company personnel have very few working days to finish these duties. The society argued that the "effective compliance window is virtually non-existent" due to the widespread office closures across India during this time.

To ease the compliance pressure on lakhs of taxpayers and professionals, BCAS has appealed to the government to consider extending the GSTR-3B filing and payment due date for September 2025 to a later date after the Diwali holidays. The representation seeks "administrative relief" for taxpayers and aims to uphold the integrity of return filings. The Finance Ministry is yet to respond to the appeal.