Returning sadly on really empty income (6)
I believe the answer is:
salary
'income' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'returning sadly on really empty' is the wordplay.
'returning' is a reversal indicator.
'sadly' becomes 'alas' (I've seen this before).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'really' with its centre removed is 'ry'.
'alas' in reverse letter order is 'sala'.
'sala'+'ry'='SALARY'
(Other definitions for salary that I've seen before include "that's usually banked" , "Remuneration, earnings" , "Wages" , "Worker's pay" , "Regular income from employment" .)