Tax audit reporting is set for a significant structural change under the Income-tax Act, 2025. For Tax Year 2026-27, the Income Tax Department has clarified that the tax audit report will be filed in Form No. 26, which consolidates the erstwhile Forms 3CA, 3CB and 3CD into one unified tax-audit form.

Importantly, this does not change the tax audit report for FY 2025-26 / AY 2026-27. That year continues under the Income-tax Act, 1961 using Forms 3CA/3CB and 3CD, with the Department presently specifying 30 September 2026 as the tax-audit-report due date. Form 26 applies to Tax Year 2026-27, whose audit report is due on 30 September 2027.

Business impact

Form 26 is more than a renumbering exercise. The Department says the new form introduces structured schedules for losses, depreciation and deductions, prior-period items, computation of receipts/income and computation of expenses. It also introduces dedicated reporting fields for capital receipts and deemed income not routed through the profit and loss account.

This means businesses should start thinking about whether their accounting systems can produce tax-audit information in a structured manner rather than assembling it only at year-end.

Mardia Global | Tax & Business Insights for India