That comes when the pandemic has battered consumption as Indians working in private companies either lost jobs or faced salary cuts, and small and medium business owners struggle with cash crunch. The government is falling short of tax revenue. It hopes that public sector employees will avail the benefit during the Diwali festival, considered auspicious for buying.
Existing Benefit
A government employee is entitled to leave travel allowance once in a block of four years. The government bears the travel cost of a trip to anywhere in the country, and another to hometown for the employee and his immediate dependents (spouse and children); or two trips to hometown . Depending on the pay grade, employees are reimbursed air or rail fare. The employee is also eligible for leave encashment of 10 days.
What’s On Offer
Now The government has created three categories for availing the LTC Cash Voucher Scheme and capped the payouts: employees entitled to business class air travel, economy air travel and rail fare.
Employees will now get cash equivalent to the total of the full roundtrip fare and leave encashment. The condition is that they will have to spend three times the fare and full leave payout on buying goods or services attracting a GST of 12% or more.
Under LTC Cash Voucher If the family hasn’t gone on a vacation in the last four years, it’s eligible under the new scheme. This person falls in the category of a roundtrip of Rs 6,000 train fare.
The total payout for four people would be Rs 24,000 (6,000x4)—but the employee will have to spend Rs 72,000 on buying goods to be eligible.
A 10-day advance leave payout works out to around Rs 17,000, and the employee will have to spend the entire amount.
In all, total expenditure would be around Rs 89,000.
What that means is in order to get Rs 41,000 the employee will have to spend Rs 89,000. That’s not all. Encashment of leave will be subject to tax deducted at source, while LTC amount will be eligible for income tax exemption, according to an office memorandum by the ministry. Those opting for the scheme will get 100% leave encashment and 50% of the fare upfront in cash, while the rest will be paid on showing invoices of purchases. If the amount is not fully spent on purchases, the government will pay 27% of the total amount spent as ticket fare and 18% as leave encashment.
