GST and TCS on your trip

Rates current as of September 2026 · General information, not tax advice

The short version. GST at 5% is a genuine cost and you will not see it again. TCS is not a cost at all — it is your own income tax, paid early through us, and you claim every rupee of it back when you file your return.

GST — 5%, and that is the end of it

Tour packages in India carry Goods and Services Tax at 5% of the package value. It applies to domestic and international packages alike, and it is charged without input tax credit, which is the standard structure for a leisure trip.

On a ₹2,50,000 per-person trip, that is ₹12,500 per person. It is a real tax, it goes to the government, and it is not recoverable by you. We show it separately rather than folding it into the headline price so you can see what you are paying for.

TCS — collected from you, then returned to you

TCS stands for Tax Collected at Source. Under the Income-tax Act, a seller of an overseas tour package has to collect a slice of your income tax at the time of payment and deposit it against your PAN. It is not a fee, a levy, or a charge for the trip. It is your own income tax, paid in advance.

The reason it exists is that the government wanted a record of large foreign spending matched to a PAN. The side effect is that a quote suddenly carries a line that looks like a surcharge, which is why this page exists.

The rate

2% of what you pay for an overseas tour package, from the first rupee. There is no threshold, so it no longer matters what else you have spent abroad this year.
This has applied since 1 April 2026. Before that it was 5% up to ₹7,00,000 a year and 20% above, which is the figure you may have seen elsewhere.
It is collected with your payment. The full amount is paid when you book, so the TCS is collected then too.
Without a valid PAN the rate is higher, which is why we ask for yours when you book.
Domestic trips carry no TCS. This applies to overseas packages only.

What it looks like on a real quote

Two travellers on a ₹2,51,000 per-person trip come to ₹5,02,000. GST at 5% adds ₹25,100, for ₹5,27,100. TCS at 2% of that is ₹10,542, and that last number comes back to you. [CONFIRM WITH THE COMPANY CA: TCS worked on the amount including GST.]

How you get TCS back

TCS is credited against your PAN the same way TDS on your salary is. You do not apply for a refund separately; you claim the credit when you file, and it either reduces the tax you owe or is paid back to you.

Give us your PAN when you book. Without it the collection cannot be credited to you, and the rate is higher. This is the one step that actually matters.
Keep the TCS certificate. We issue Form 27D after the amount is deposited. Hold on to it.
Check it appears against your PAN. It shows up in your Form 26AS and your Annual Information Statement on the income tax portal, usually within a quarter.
Claim it in your return. Enter it under taxes already paid when you file your ITR for that financial year. It is set off against your total tax; if you have overpaid, the balance is refunded.
If you are salaried, you can claim it earlier. Form 12BAA lets you report TCS to your employer so your monthly TDS drops, rather than waiting for the refund.

The one genuine cost is timing: the money sits with the government between your payment and your refund. On a trip booked early in the financial year, that can be a while.

What we do at our end

We show GST and TCS as separate lines on your quote. Neither is hidden in the trip price.
We tell you the TCS figure before you pay anything, not on the final invoice.
We collect your PAN at booking and issue Form 27D once the amount is deposited.
Where a trip can sensibly be arranged so that TCS does not apply — flights booked in your own name rather than bundled, for instance — we will say so. Whether that suits you is your call, and it changes what we are responsible for. [CONFIRM THIS WITH THE COMPANY CA BEFORE PUBLISHING.]

Please check this against your own situation

This page is general information about how these two taxes work, written so the lines on your quote are not a surprise. It is not tax advice, your circumstances may differ, and the rates change with the Budget. For anything that turns on your own finances, ask your chartered accountant.

The rest of the commercial terms — deposits, balances and cancellation — are on the terms and conditions page. Anything still unclear, ask us and we will explain it against your actual quote.