LTA Claim Without Travel: How Can I Make the Most of My Allowance?

Hi, I have 1 lac as LTA to claim. Not planning to go anywhere. Can anyone please provide an idea on how to claim this? Thanks a lot. Cheers.

Hi,

I believe the LTA provision is for you and your family to claim. If you don't have any plans due to your work, you should allow your family to travel and you can avail LTA in that case. This is something I myself did for claiming my LTA.

CHEERS :)

Dear Mr. Kumar,

Basically, LTA is given so that the employee and his family can relax a bit for a few days. However, if you do not want to go anywhere and neither does your family, you may adopt the following procedure, as told by one of my friends:

a) Take train tickets (A/C or Non A/C will depend on your grade in the present company as per the HR Policy) for any location in India (a longer distance is better as the train tickets cost will be higher).

b) Take photocopies of the same and preserve them with you.

c) Cancel the original train tickets, etc., and get the refund from the Railway.

d) However, you will have to go on leave for that many number of days. For the simple reason that you cannot get LTA and Leave Encashment (for that period) together. Because this will be like a Double Taxation system.

e) As far as hotel bookings, etc., are concerned, that may not be an issue at all.

I personally have never done this, nor do I intend to do all this. You are requested to think about this and only then go ahead.

Regards,

Shaunak Marulkar

Jr. Manager - HR & Administration

Thank you very much for your time and suggestion.

Basically, we were on holiday two months ago and are now reviewing the airfare expenses. I am unable to claim more than 10,000 INR. The remaining 90,000 INR will be taxable. Therefore, I am contemplating how to claim this remaining amount.

What types of expenses can I claim under LTA? For example, can I claim expenses for hotel stays, taxi fares, food bills, etc.?

Thank you for your assistance!

Tax benefit on LTA is applicable only for travel expenses, not for food or accommodation. Also, if you are claiming a tax benefit, you have to travel (produce tickets) with the family.

Dear Kumar,

As Shaunak has mentioned, LTA is basically for the relaxation of employees and their families, and secondly, it is a tax-saving component to be claimed every alternate year (2 claims in a slab of 4 years).

To claim such a high amount, you first have to check your HR policy to see if airfare is permitted.

Since you are based in Bangalore, you can speak to a travel agent and inform them about claiming LTA. They will manage to book air tickets to far destinations, for example, from Bangalore to Delhi, which would cost around ₹15,000 to ₹18,000 for a return trip per person.

Secondly, you can then ask them for some taxi bills with which they have tie-ups.

Take a copy of the tickets and original bills from the travel agent and submit them to the company. Meanwhile, ask the agent to cancel the ticket. You may have to bear the ticket cancellation charges only.

Well, there are a few people who manage this, but the safer method is always to show your actual bills because in very rare cases, the Income Tax scrutinizes LTA details. If they do, the employee will face problems and have to bear the tax, interest, and penalty.

Best Regards,

Tina

LTA is taxable if claimed and not spent since it is considered as income. To claim LTA, spending for traveling for a minimum of 4 days leave is required, and you will get a rebate only to the extent of the amount spent for traveling by railway or air (domestic) after producing the necessary proofs. The travel period should match with the leave period.

gcgore

I suggest that you do not engage in any illegal activities that could potentially lead to problems with your employer or the Income Tax Department in the future. We have demoted several individuals and withheld salary increments due to fraudulent LTA claims. If any of your close associates were to inform the IT Department, you could encounter serious consequences. It's advisable to either enjoy your holidays and legitimately claim LTA or fulfill your tax obligations. Please consider this carefully.

Regards,
Shiv Kumar

Hi,

I fully agree with Mr. Shiv Kumar. Enjoy your holidays, claim LTA as per rules only to enjoy peace of mind.

Regards, Sasidharan

LTA is not only money reimbursement; it is more than monetary purpose. It helps in stress management and work-life balance. So take your LTA properly. These are my views.

Hi,

I agree with Sivakumar. Two years ago, IBM removed 100 employees for producing fake travel documents. If you follow what Tina and others are saying, you could be the next person to lose your job.

LTA stands for Leave Travel Allowance. This claim is allowed for your dependents and yourself. Your father, mother, wife/husband, etc., can travel, and you can claim the amount. It is permitted once every two years, so you can carry it forward if you are unable to travel this year.

Cheers,
Suneel.

I agree with those who say to follow the rules and either go on leave and/or receive the remaining amount of LTA after tax is deducted. After all, tax at your level of benefits will not be more than 30%. Pay the tax and enjoy the rest of the LTA fearlessly.

Those who propose claiming LTA against false claims are not doing the HR community a favor by teaching them how to defraud the tax authorities and the employers. Once you make fraudulent claims in one case, you will be tempted to make fraudulent claims in other cases as well, which is definitely not advisable.

Jeroo

Hi Kumarde,

Does your organization have an LTA encashment policy? If yes, can you claim encashment of LTA? If not, then there is only one way out - i.e. either you avail it or you forgo it. There cannot be any taxation until and unless the amount falls into your hands. Do not indulge in unfair practice. You will surely land yourself in disciplinary action, and it may result in the termination of service. This will amount to "loss of integrity." And no employer would like to retain an employee who has no integrity. Please play safe.

Regards,
Satish Kumar Dhanwal Head (HR) NTPC Foundation Noida

Hi, I had applied for LTA reimbursements. I had hired a taxi for the travel along with my family. The bills got rejected stating that they are duplicates as no TIN number is printed on the bill. The travel agent claims that there will be no such number for them and the bills are legitimate. What should I do? How can I identify if the bills are legitimate and what number (TIN/VAT) should be printed on the Travel Agent's bills?

Hi,

I made some online railway reservations and cancelled them to claim LTA. Can I submit the printouts of the tickets, or do we need the original tickets (which I don't have)?

Thank you.

Hi bijoraj,

Did you get an e-ticket or i-Ticket? As an e-ticket is purely a soft copy, there is no concept of an original copy. As far as I know, in the case of online tickets, it is not possible to know whether a ticket was used for travel or not, because the PNR number gets recycled after a few days of cancellation. However, if your company is strict, they may ask you to provide some proof of travel in the case of e-Tickets. For example, a signature of a Ticket Examiner or Train Conductor who verified your ticket while you were traveling.