pulls out all stops for TCS
An OTOAI delegation led by President Riaz Munshi made a representation to Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism and presented a detailed letter on TCS.
Such an exercise can, at best, contribute a very small amount to the kitty at a huge cost to the business and is wholly avoidable
OTOAI is working hard to increase the dialogue with concerned authorities to discuss the matter of TCS and apprise them about the consequences of the tax regime on the outbound travel market. After making the first representation regarding the TCS amendments proposed in the Finance Bill 2020, an OTOAI delegation called upon the Ministry of Tourism to apprise them about the situation and consequences of TCS on the outbound tourism market. The representation was well received by the ADG and she has assured that OTOAI’s representation will be forwarded to Ministry of Finance, Government of India, with Ministry of Tourism’s recommendations. In the letter presented to Brar to withdraw the provisions of TCS on tour operators, OTOAI said that in their business, competition is huge, margins are very thin, and there are lots of uncertainties. “This additional burden would impose huge costs, would require deployment of extra staff, maintenance of accounts, filing of returns and then matching all the figures. All these requirements require capacity building, developing capability incurring huge costs, at a time when the industry is reeling under crisis and can ill afford. This would rather result in heavy slowdown of their business affecting employment instead. The new provision has come at the worst possible time, when the world economy is reeling under a serious crisis of COVID-19 scare and airlines, hotels, logistics and transportation and all other related businesses are facing a huge crisis, with layoff of workers and negative growth in the industry,” said Munshi in the letter. “In such a scenario, many tour operators may be forced to close down their business, resulting in loss of business and employment. Such an exercise can, at best, contribute a very small amount to the kitty at a huge cost to the business and is wholly avoidable,” he further said.