Air tickets above Rs 1 lakh now under I-T scanner

Mumbai: The Income Tax (IT) department will now be keeping a closer watch on the travel sector. The department has asked all major travel agents to provide details of all passengers who book individual tickets exceeding Rs 1 lakh.
Tour operators said while they were asked to furnish details of such passengers only in December 2010, the department asked them to send data from April last year.
"If a person books a return ticket for himself for more than Rs 1 lakh, we will have to forwards his\her details to the IT department,'' said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus Travels.
Tour operators said this would bring major businessmen or business houses under scanner as they usually book premium seats to international destinations. The agents have been asked to provide every three months details including name, address, place of travel, duration, class of air travel and even the passenger's PAN number.
The IT officials said this drive was merely to collect intelligence that could come in handy for any later investigations. "We are already collecting data on other transactions like credit cards and car purchases, this is just another area,'' a senior IT official said. "Details of any passengers are still to reach us,'' he added.
23/03/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Mar 2011