Questions related to leave travel allowance

Question

I am aware that one can claim tax reimbursement on expenses incurred on travelling within India during a personal leave. Although, I find this concept very confusing. I already understand the following concepts :

1. LTA can be claimed for two journeys in a block of 4 years.
2. Unclaimed LTA balance for one journey from the previous block can be carried forward to the current block.

I want to understand the following :

1. What is the current LTA block
2. What was the previous LTA block
3. Do I have to claim LTA for two journeys in one go or can I claim LTA for one journey in the first year of the block and claim the LTA for another journey in the 4th year of the block?
4. I traveled all around India in October 2013, what block does this fall under? When can I claim this under LTA?
5. If I took a leave in my previous job and I did not claim any LTA, can I still claim it with my current employer? Do I need any documents from my previous employer for this?
6. What is the LTA limit? Is there a fixed formula for this such as x % of basic pay?
7. If I traveled to multiple destinations during my vacation, can I claim LTA for all the travel expenses or does it include only destination. Consider the following scenarios :
   • Vacation 1 (2013) Traveled from A to B, B to C and from C to A.
   • Vacation 2 (2014) Traveled from A to B, B to C, C to B and B to A

What can I claim as LTA for the above vacations?

It would be great if some of the confusing questions that I have asked above can be answered with examples.

Answer 1

Here are answers to your queries.

1. 2014 to 2017
2. 2010 to 2013
3. One Can't claim two journeys in one go. Both the journeys have to be in different financial year and claimed accordingly.
4. October 2013 falls under the previous block and you should have claimed it in the financial year 2013-14 (April 2013 to March 2014)
5. Most employers in India do not allow you to claim LTA from previous employers. They expect you to claim it when it happened.
6. There are no limit as per Income tax law under section 10 (5) rule (2b)
7. Expenses to all destinations can be claimed as long as it's in the same leave duration. So in claim 1, you can claim for expenses towards A to B, B to C and from C to A. In claim 2, you can claim for expenses towards A to B, B to C, C to B and B to A. All destinations should be within India.