Moment guide · FY 2026-27

I am planning to claim LTA on my travel

How many LTA journeys can I claim in a block year?

LTA under section 10(5) exempts the actual fare of up to two India journeys per 4-year block — 2022-25 and 2026-29 — for yourself and dependants, by economy air or first-class rail, on the shortest route. If you use only one journey in a block, you can carry one into the next block; cash paid without travel is fully taxable. Keep tickets and boarding passes because the exemption is capped at the fare you actually paid for the journey taken.

The #1 trap

Claiming LTA against cash paid out by the employer instead of actual journey fare, or claiming airfare on the most expensive route when the exemption is capped at the shortest-route economy fare. The fare you actually paid for the journey taken — not the amount your employer labels as LTA — is the ceiling for exemption.

Rohan, engineer in Bengaluru, plans a family trip to claim LTA

Rohan works in Bengaluru and is in the 2022-25 LTA block, having claimed one journey in 2023. He books a flight to Srinagar for himself, his wife and his daughter in economy class, paying ₹18,500 per adult and ₹14,000 for the child, which is ₹51,000 in total. The fare on the shortest route is ₹17,000 per adult, so the exempt amount is capped at ₹17,000 per adult and ₹14,000 for the child, which is ₹48,000, not the ₹51,000 he actually paid. Because he used only one journey in the 2022-25 block, the second journey remains unused. Under Rule 2B he can carry that one journey into the first year of the 2026-29 block, giving him three effective journeys across the two blocks if he travels in the new block. His employer's Form 16 does not automatically grant LTA exemption; he submits the tickets, boarding passes and a travel declaration with the claim. If instead his company had paid ₹50,000 as 'LTA conversion' without any trip, the entire amount would be taxable salary, because section 10(5) requires actual travel. The family also keeps the hotel and itinerary records, though only the fare is exempt under the law. Rohan's taxable salary is reduced by ₹48,000 in this year because of the genuine journey, and the carry-forward preserves one journey for the next block. A quick call with us dials in the final figure. Rohan's employer requires him to submit the claim within the same financial year as the travel, with the boarding passes and the fare receipts, and the exemption is limited to the actual fare paid for the journey taken, not the LTA component shown in his offer letter. If he had travelled abroad to Dubai, the foreign leg would not qualify at all; only the domestic portion of a mixed itinerary counts in limited cases, so he keeps his domestic tickets separate. His daughter travels as a dependent, which counts within the two journeys per block for the family, but a friend travelling with him who is not a family member cannot be covered by his LTA claim. He also remembers that LTA does not require him to take leave from work — the allowance is about the journey, not the holiday — but the employer may ask for a declaration that the journey was within India. A quick call with us dials in the final figure.