Cancellation of tickets by customers who have booked their flight tickets on or before March 31, 2018 may get costlier than usual as a few airlines are not expected to offer refund of GST component, The Indian Express reported. While airlines such as AirAsia will bear the costs and offer tax refund, other like Vistara will not do such, the report said. The GST component will only be refunded on tickets submitted for the same up to August 31, 2018 for tickets issued up to March 31, 2018, The Indian Express reported citing unidentified senior Air India official. One month of processing time will be provided and all the travel agents have been informed on the same matter, he added.
Any credit note issued by a firm for goods or services’ supply should not be announced later than September of the following fiscal year, Section 34 (2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 says. So, GST collected by an airline during FY18 will not be adjusted for in case an airline ticket is cancelled post September 30 this year. “As per the GST Law, effective 1st Oct’18, GST will be non-refundable for tickets issued on or before 31st Mar’18”, Vistara said. An AirAsia India spokesperson said, “…as of now, we intend to refund the GST component of the fare if guests decide to cancel their tickets after 30 September.”