Online travel tickets to be expensive under GST

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on Wednesday said that the online travel agents and other services will be liable to deduct 1% tax at source under the GST regime as they have been classified as e-commerce operators.

Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, an e- commerce operator is required to collect 1% of the net value of taxable supplies made through it. The amount so collected is called tax collected at source or TCS but this provision has been kept in abeyance for the time being.

Online travel agents have been classified as e-commerce operators (ECO) and so they have to deduct TCS. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), in a fresh set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), said the TCS requirement would not apply to someone selling own products through a website. Only applicable GST for the goods would be levied in that case.