Who must file an income tax return in India

You must file an income tax return if your total income before deductions is above the basic exemption limit. That limit is ₹2,50,000 for most people, ₹3,00,000 for a senior citizen (60 to 79) and ₹5,00,000 for a super senior citizen (80 and above). Some people must file even below this, for example when a lot of TDS has been deducted.

The figures above are the signed-off figures for the tax year 2025-26. The figures for the tax year 2026-27 are provisional: they carry forward the 2025-26 values and have not yet been signed off against the Income-tax Act, 2025.

The basic exemption limit

Your gross total income is your income from all heads (salary, house property, capital gains, business or profession, other sources) before any deduction under the deduction chapter. Certain capital gains exemptions are also not subtracted for this test.

If this amount is above the limit for your age, you must file.

Note that deductions such as 80C do not bring you below the limit for this purpose. A person with ₹4,00,000 of income who invests ₹1,50,000 in a tax-saving instrument still has to file, if below age 60.

TDS and TCS above a threshold

You must also file if the tax deducted or collected at source in your name is large. In the code that TaxCare uses, the test is:

• ₹25,000 or more of TDS and TCS together for most people.
• ₹50,000 or more for senior and super senior citizens.

These amounts apply for the tax year 2025-26. For the tax year 2026-27, check them again once the rules under the Income-tax Act, 2025 are final.

Other conditions that make filing compulsory

For the tax year 2025-26, the Income-tax Act, 1961 (section 139(1), seventh proviso, with rule 12AB) also makes a return compulsory, whatever your income, if during the year you:

• deposited more than ₹1 crore in total in one or more current accounts;
• deposited ₹50 lakh or more in total in one or more savings bank accounts;
• spent more than ₹2 lakh on foreign travel for yourself or anyone else;
• paid more than ₹1 lakh in total in electricity bills;
• had business turnover above ₹60 lakh, or professional gross receipts above ₹10 lakh.

If you have a loss you want to carry forward, file by the due date: a late return forfeits the carry-forward of most losses (a house-property loss is the exception).

When filing is smart even if it is optional

If you are not required to file, you may still want to:

• Claim a refund of TDS that was deducted when your tax was actually lower or nil.
• Build an income record for a loan, a credit card or a visa application.
• Carry forward losses from shares or other sources, which is allowed only if the return is filed in time.
• Keep your records clean, because the department already holds information about your income and transactions in your AIS.

How to check your own position

1. Download your AIS and Form 26AS or Form 168.
2. Add up your income from every source.
3. Compare it with the limit for your age.
4. Look at the total TDS and TCS shown against your PAN.
5. Check whether any special condition applies to you.

If you are on the edge, filing is the safer choice. A return that was not required costs only a little time. A return that was required but missed can bring a late fee, interest and a notice.

Late fee if you should have filed

If you were required to file and you file after the due date, a late fee applies: ₹5,000, or ₹1,000 if your total income is ₹5,00,000 or less. Interest of 1% per month or part of a month also applies on any unpaid tax. These are the figures used in TaxCare's rules for the tax year 2025-26.

How TaxCare helps

TaxCare fetches your AIS, TIS and Form 26AS or Form 168 from the Income Tax portal after you confirm with an OTP, so you can see your income and TDS in one place. It tells you whether your figures cross the filing thresholds and picks the ITR form from your data. You can add family members, such as parents, and prepare their returns from the same account. If your situation looks unusual, a Tax Expert can look at it.

This guide gives general information and is not professional tax advice.