Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) on Friday said it has requested the government to withdraw the tax collected at source on outbound travel, as proposed in the Finance Bill 2020.
The tax collected at source (TCS) was to be imposed from April 1, but its implementation was deferred on request from the industry. However, it was not abolished and is now set to be levied from October 1, 2020, FAITH said in a statement.
The TCS is uncompetitive. Its implementation will have an unprecedented negative impact on Indian travel agents and tour operators, the industry body added.
TCS of 5 per cent (10 per cent on those without PAN) will instead of providing income to Indian travel agents and tour operators, shift it to travel booking agents and operators based outside the country, the statement said.
Therefore the federation requests the government to abolish the proposed implementation of the TCS on the Indian travel industry as proposed in the Finance Bill 2020 U/S 206C, it added.
“The FAITH Associations together are taking up the issue with the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry Of Tourism and are hopeful that the Indian travel agents and tour operators don’t get levied with an anti-competitive tax and have a level playing field with their international competitors,” FAITH Consulting CEO Aashish Gupta said.
