ITR-1 Sahaj: the form for salaried residents

Salary or pension, one house property, interest income, total income up to ₹50,00,000. The simplest of the seven returns, and the one most often filed by someone who was no longer eligible for it.

Start your ITR-1 Not sure? Check your form

Upload your Form 16 and BharatTax fills the return from it, reconciles it against your 26AS and AIS, and computes both regimes side by side.

Who files it Who cannot What the form asks for Key dates How BharatTax prepares it Questions

Who files ITR-1

ITR-1 is available to an individual who is Resident and Ordinarily Resident for the year, and whose income for AY 2026-27 is confined to:

Salary or pension.
Income from one house property — let out, self-occupied or deemed let out. Two properties means ITR-2.
Other sources limited to interest (savings, fixed deposit, recurring deposit, income tax refund) and family pension.
Agricultural income up to ₹5,000.
Long-term capital gain u/s 112A up to ₹1,25,000, with no brought-forward or carried-forward capital loss. The notified AY 2025-26 and AY 2026-27 forms added this block (C3(a) on the Sahaj), so a small equity or equity mutual fund gain no longer forces you onto ITR-2.
Total income — after deductions — not exceeding ₹50,00,000.

Both regimes are open on ITR-1. The new regime u/s 115BAC is the default from AY 2023-24 onward; the old regime has to be opted for. BharatTax computes both and tells you which one costs less on your figures.

The one that catches people

The ₹50 lakh ceiling is on total income, not on salary. A salary of ₹52 lakh with ₹3 lakh of deductions is still an ITR-1. A salary of ₹48 lakh plus ₹4 lakh of interest is not.

Who cannot use ITR-1

Eighteen conditions take ITR-1 off the table. Every one of them is a rule BharatTax applies to your own figures as you enter them.

If any of this is true for you	Which form instead
You are a Non-Resident or Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR)	ITR-2
Your total income exceeds ₹50,00,000	ITR-2
You have income or loss from more than one house property	ITR-2
You have brought-forward house property loss from an earlier year	ITR-2
Your agricultural income is more than ₹5,000	ITR-2
You have capital gains beyond the ₹1,25,000 of 112A gain the form allows	ITR-2
You have income from business or profession	ITR-3, or ITR-4 if presumptive
You hold foreign assets, have foreign income, or are the beneficiary of a foreign trust	ITR-2 (Schedule FA)
You have signing authority in a foreign bank or financial account	ITR-2
You are a director in a company, including a private limited company	ITR-2 or ITR-3
You held unlisted equity shares at any time during the year	ITR-2
Your employer deferred tax on ESOPs u/s 192(1C)	ITR-2
You have a loss under any head other than house property loss within the ₹2 lakh limit	ITR-2
You are carrying losses forward from earlier years	ITR-2
You have income taxable at a special rate — lottery, crossword, horse races u/s 115BB	ITR-2
You have other-sources income that is neither interest nor family pension	ITR-2
TDS was deducted on a cash withdrawal u/s 194N	ITR-2
You have interest income from a firm or LLP in which you are a partner	ITR-2

These are the checks BharatTax itself runs. The product applies the same rules to your figures as you enter them and moves you to the right form before you file — it does not let you submit a return on a form you are not eligible for.

What ITR-1 asks for

The Sahaj is one page of identity and four of figures. BharatTax fills most of it from your Form 16, 26AS and AIS.

Schedule	What it carries
Part A – General	PAN, Aadhaar, name, date of birth, address, contact, and the section you are filing under — 139(1), 139(4) belated, 139(5) revised or 139(8A) updated.
Part B – Gross total income	Salary as per Form 16 Part B, income from the one house property, income from other sources, and gross total income.
Part C – Deductions	Chapter VI-A: 80C, 80CCD(1B), 80D, 80TTA, 80TTB, 80G and the rest. Under the new regime only 80CCD(2) survives.
Part D – Tax computation	Slab tax, rebate u/s 87A, surcharge, cess, relief u/s 89, interest u/s 234A/B/C, fee u/s 234F, and the balance payable or refundable.
Schedule TDS / TCS	TDS on salary from Form 16 Part A, TDS on other income, and TCS — reconciled against your 26AS.
Schedule IT	Advance tax and self-assessment tax challans: BSR code, date, serial number, amount.
Bank details	Every account held during the year, with the one nominated for refund.
Verification	The declaration, and the place and date of signing.

Key dates for AY 2026-27

Assessment year 2026-27 covers the income you earned in the previous year 2025-26 — 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

1 April 2026Filing opens for AY 2026-27

31 August 2026Due date u/s 139(1)

31 December 2026Belated return u/s 139(4)

31 December 2026Revised return u/s 139(5)

A return filed after the due date attracts a late fee u/s 234F and interest u/s 234A, and losses other than house-property loss can no longer be carried forward. BharatTax computes 234A, 234B and 234C on the return itself, so the figure you see is the figure you pay.

How BharatTax prepares your ITR-1

Four steps. The longest is the one where you check what the documents said.

Import

Upload Form 16. BharatTax parses Part A and Part B, then reads your 26AS and AIS and cross-checks all three. Where they disagree it tells you which document says what, rather than silently picking one.

Review head by head

Salary, house property, other sources, deductions and taxes paid, each presented with the figure and where it came from. Nothing is treated as final until you approve it.

Compare both regimes

One computation under the old regime, one under the new, shown side by side with the deductions that apply to each. You choose; the choice is recorded on the return.

Download and file

A computation of income PDF for your records, and the ITD JSON the e-filing portal accepts. Every download is checked against the CBDT’s own published schema file for ITR-1 before it reaches you, so a return the portal would reject is caught here instead.

ITR-1 — common questions

Can I file ITR-1 if I have capital gains?

Only long-term capital gain u/s 112A — listed equity shares or equity mutual funds — up to ₹1,25,000, and only if you have no capital loss to bring forward or carry forward. Any other capital gain, including property, debt funds or short-term gain on shares, means ITR-2.

I have two house properties, one of them self-occupied. Can I still use ITR-1?

No. ITR-1 has room for one house property of any kind. Two, whether self-occupied or let out, means ITR-2.

I am a salaried employee and also a director in my family company. Which form?

Being a director in any company rules out ITR-1 and ITR-4 whatever the income. With salary alone and no business income it is ITR-2; with business income it is ITR-3.

Does the new regime change which form I file?

No. The regime and the form are separate choices. Both regimes are available on ITR-1; the new regime u/s 115BAC applies by default and the old one has to be opted for.

What happens if I file after 31 August 2026?

You can file a belated return u/s 139(4) up to 31 December 2026. It attracts a fee u/s 234F and interest u/s 234A on any unpaid tax, and losses other than house-property loss cannot be carried forward.

Can I revise an ITR-1 after filing it?

Yes, u/s 139(5), up to 31 December 2026. If the mistake surfaces after that, an updated return u/s 139(8A) is available for a longer window, with additional tax.

File your ITR-1 from your Form 16

Upload the document, check the figures, pick the regime that costs less, download the JSON. Both regimes computed on every return.

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