LTA benefits: Can you claim for two years consecutively?

Question: Can I claim LTA (Leave Travel Assistance) two consecutive years e.g. 2020 and 2021 . Is there any specific rule for travel to hometown LTA in 2 years.

Answer: As far as exemption in respect of LTA is concerned, there is no specific provisions as regards the places to which a journey can be undertaken as long as the journey is undertaken within India so there is no need for you to visit you home town to be able to claim LTA benefits. Likewise, there is no restrictions that the journeys have to be taken in alternative years. 

So one can claim the benefit of LTA in respect of any two journeys during the block of four years. So, in my opinion, even both the journeys in respect of the same block of four years can be undertaken in the same year provided the employer is willing to pay the amount of LTA during the same year. The current block of four years covers the calendar years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Since both these calendar years 2020 and 2021 fall in the same block, you can claim the exemption for both these consecutive calendar years in case you have not claimed the LTA exemption for 2018 and 2019. 

Please note the LTA benefit can only be claimed for journey undertaken to any place in India, so in respect of foreign travels, you can claim the travel expenses only for travel upto the airport from where you embark on your foreign journey for to and fro journey.

Balwant Jain is a tax and investment expert and can be reached on jainbalwant@gmail and @jainbalwant on twitter.com.