Tag Archives: GST

The Maharashtra Chapter of the IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) recently conducted its Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. The AGM unequivocally declared that the present day maladies being faced by the travel agents fraternity were set off by the downfall of the national carrier that started in 2004 and was eventually hastened from end-2008 when Air India implemented zero commission (within India) to please the Star Alliance Group. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, said, “The AGM has unanimously decided to demand five per cent commission on gross fare and in turn, the entire travel agent community will wholeheartedly support Air India to regain its name and brand. The AGM collectively looks forward to Air India reversing its anti-travel agent policies and becoming a role model. Air India can only ensure the operation of a flight from one airport to another. But the aircraft seats have to be filled by the traditional travel agents only, as Air India’s web sale volume is marginal. Under the new GST regime, agents can survive only with the commissions as mandated by IATA Resolution 824 (Para 9) and the DGCA Order of March 5, 2010. It will be suicidal to depend on service charges as it may have to be separately invoiced.”

The second leg of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) opened in Ahmedabad to an overwhelming response on day one. The first day began with product presentations by exhibitors and received 600 plus attendees. The product presentations were followed by the much-awaited session on GST by team GMJ & Co. There will be table top B2B meetings between exhibitors and buyers taking place on day 2 and 3 of the event.

Online travel company TravelTriangle recently organised a session on GST for travel agents associated with their platform. TravelTriangle roped in reputed law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys to facilitate the session, which was conducted by Kapil Kumar Sharma. Aimed at educating TravelTriangle’s travel partners about the impending GST rollout and its implications on their business, the seminar gave attendees an overview of GST and changes in the taxation structure. Changes in law governing the travel industry in context of a marketplace were also discussed, as were the compliance requirements under the GST regime and the grey areas that still exist. Other critical aspects, such as the transition from the current market approach to the ‘One Nation, One Tax, One Market’ model proposed under the GST, were also deliberated over in detail. Speaking on the reason behind the undertaking, Yuvraj Khemani, Finance Controller, TravelTriangle said, “While the GST rollout is expected to benefit all stakeholders in the fast-growing Indian travel industry, the actual impact of the new tax regime is still not completely understood by a vast majority of businesses across the country. This was a knowledge gap that we wanted to address with this session. TravelTriangle always endeavours to support its partners at every step of their business journey and this session was a step in the same direction.” The company has launched a GST guide focussing on the travel-relevant aspects of the GST rollout, and has set up a dedicated email address for agents to mail their GST-related queries. Apart from that, TravelTriangle is also training its internal teams to aid agents with the GST registration process as well as its operational aspects.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) addressed its members’ queries regarding the recently implemented GST regime. Chartered Accountant Ashok Batra made a presentation to explain the nitty-gritty of this new tax structure and also elaborated on how this would affect the members of the association in day-to-day business activities. The members attended the seminar with full enthusiasm and raised various queries, all of which were addressed during the event itself.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Northern Region received a huge attendance for its seminar on GST at The Claridges, New Delhi. Sumit Jhunjhunwala, Senior Partner GMJ and Co., Mumbai, gave a presentation on how GST would affect the TAAI members and how they can cope up with the new regime. He also addressed the queries of the members on the application procedure and invoicing under GST.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) for hotels will be charged on the rack rates, or declared rates of hotels, which will have a considerable impact on the hotel industry. According to the notification number 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) New Delhi, dated June 28, 2017, “For accommodation in hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or other commercial places meant for residential or lodging purposes, the ‘declared tariff’ will be the basis of tax to be levied.” Declared tariff has been explained as to  include charges for all the amenities provided in a unit of accommodation (given on rent for stay), like furniture, air conditioner, refrigerator or any other amenities, but without excluding any discount offered on the published charges leading to some ambiguity. However, Rashmi Verma, Secretary Tourism, Government of India, had announced in an interactive meeting in Mumbai that the GST rates are on actual invoiced rate and not on published tariff. She also assured to look into any discrepancy or anomaly in the language or wordings of the same.

Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma announced that in May the ministry witnessed a 19 per cent increase in inbound tourist numbers despite it being peak summer. She informed that MOT has created a GST cell two days ago to address the industry issues. “We want to handhold the industry through the transition from current tax regime to the new GST regime and solve any hurdles through this,” she said. The much-awaited National Tourism policy would most probably be released before World Tourism Day commemorated on September 27, she added. Verma said that the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet had suggested some changes in the draft policy which have been incorporated and will releasing it soon. This was revealed during a special session on GST organised by the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) for its members, which was attended by members from Central Board of Excise & Customs, Govt. of India. The government officials addressed the issues related to tour operators and explained to them the intricacies of the GST regime and how would it affect them. The event was also a farewell from IATO to former secretary tourism Vinod Zutshi, where they also welcomed the new secretary Rashmi Verma.

Following close on the heels of national travel trade associations, the Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA) recently conducted a seminar on the impending GST for its members in Mumbai. It was conducted on June 5, 2017, by noted Service Tax expert Manish Gadia, Partner, GMJ & Co, who conducted similar sessions for TAAI as well as IATO. Sudhir Patil, President, MTOA, says, “We welcome the new GST regime though there is a lot of fear factor attached to it. Complications are expected. But I hope that more seminars will help us make this a smooth transition.” The association also launched its website (www.mtoa.co.in) on the same day.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) hosted a session on Goods and Services Tax (GST) for its members in Mumbai. Service Tax expert CA Manish Gadia from GMJ & Co gave an insight on how GST will come into play. TAAI has initiated GST training sessions in cities such as Kolkata, Ahmedabad and now Mumbai. Revealing more is Jay Bhatia, Hon. Treasurer & Tourism Council Chairman, TAAI. “By June 30, we plan to complete these sessions in all the 20 cities across the country where TAAI is present. Subsequently by July-August we will have detailed session as the government gives more clarity on GST. Currently, we are not happy with the GST rates and we will be making representation through FAITH to the government which is definitely going to be reviewed by the government but as of now the current intention of the government is to implement GST from 1st of July. Once it is implemented we have assurance from the government that they will look into the issues faced by agents and take the right steps,” he said. Sampat Damani, Chairman – Western Region, TAAI, commented, “Although we received notifications from the government but still a lot of things are not clear. With GST being very complex we see tourism and hospitality industry getting a big hit. Like demonetisation we may see day to day changes by the government which will be a chaos for the next 6-8 months. We were supposed to go into a paperless scenario but here with 37 returns to be filed annually we are taking a step backward instead of going forward.”

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has started conducting educational workshops on GST for its members across all chapters along with its consultant and Service Tax expert, Manish Gadia, Partner, GMJ & Co. Jay Bhatia, National Treasurer and Chairman (Tourism Council), TAAI, says, “We did a session on GST in Ahmedabad on Saturday, May 27 and are doing another one in Mumbai on June 1. We have planned this pan-India for our chapters and the dates and cities will be announced soon.” The association will conduct another one in Lucknow on June 8. Gadia, who recently conducted a session on the same topic for Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) members in Mumbai says, “The main doubt of the IATO members was whether they have to go for five per cent or 18 per cent, whether they have both options, what will be the place of supply, and how can they get the maximum benefit from GST. Any change will always have some pros and cons. Introduction of GST is one the biggest economic reforms for India. So the tour operators will have to change the way they are doing business today.”