Govt may also allow Income Tax Exemption to
Expenses like hotel charges incurred in Leave Travel
In order to give boost to the tourism sector,
the budget for 2015-16 is likely to expand the scope of LTA and LTC by
including hotel and other expenses besides travel for the purpose of tax
benefit.
The ministry, sources said, it is also
considering a proposal to allow employees to avail leave travel concession
(LTC)/leave travel allowance (LTA) every year as against the current practice
of two times in a block of four years.
At present, LTA or LTC covers only economy
class air travel or first class (AC I Class) rail fare. An announcement in this
regard is likely to be made in the budget to be presented by finance minister
Arun Jaitley on 28 February.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier
expressed his keenness to promote tourism. Experts are of the view that
encouragement to the tourism sector will promote development of different
regions and create employment opportunities.
“To boost domestic tourism and also provide
some tax relief to the individuals, the Leave Travel Concession benefit should
be increased to one visit for every financial year,” KPMG (India) partner Vikas
Vasal said.
He further suggested that tax concessions
should also be made available for stay in hotel may also be covered to help
families avail of a holistic benefit. The LTC/LTA is available to the
individual and his family including spouse, two children, parents, brothers and
sisters, who are wholly dependent on the assessee.
“There is a huge scope for developing the
tourism industry in India which provides direct and indirect employment to
millions of people. Therefore, an enhanced tax relief to individuals on LTC
will benefit the overall economy,” Vasal said.
Source: The
Economic Times
