Blog · Income year 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026
Who must send an IT01 return?
The Income Tax Act gives the conditions that make a return necessary. If one condition applies to the income year, you must send an IT01 return.
The conditions
You must send an IT01 return for an income year if one of these conditions applies:
- Your total net income is more than Rs 500,000.
- The gross income from your business is more than Rs 2,000,000.
- Your employer kept back PAYE tax from your salary.
- A payer kept back tax at source from your income.
- You have a chargeable income.
Source: s.112(1).
After your first return
When you send a return for one income year, you must also send a return for each year after it. You can stop only with written approval from the Director-General. If you will not have a chargeable income again, you can apply for this approval.
Source: s.112(1A).
Small sugar cane planters
A planter does not send a return for an income year if all of these conditions apply:
- The planter has sugar cane on less than 15 hectares of land in total.
- The sugar from the cane is not more than 60 tonnes.
- The net income of the planter comes only from sugar cane. The basic retirement pension does not count.
Source: s.112(2).
The last date
You send the return and pay the tax by 15 October after the income year. For the income year from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, the last date is 15 October 2026.
Questions people ask
Must you send a return if you only have a salary?
Yes, if your employer kept back PAYE tax from your salary. This is one of the conditions in s.112(1) of the Income Tax Act.
Is income of less than Rs 500,000 free of tax?
The first Rs 500,000 of chargeable income has a tax rate of 0%. But a return can also be necessary, for example when your employer kept back PAYE tax.
Can you stop to send returns?
Only with written approval from the Director-General. If you will not have a chargeable income again, you can apply for this approval. See s.112(1A).
Let IT01 AI do these steps
IT01 AI is an app for Mac, Windows and Linux. It reads your bank statements and your statement of emoluments on your computer, sorts each payment, and calculates the tax with each figure linked to the Act. One payment of Rs 4,990, and the licence has no end date.
This article explains the law as it stands on 3 October 2026. It is not tax advice.