Hoteliers Seeking Relief from GST Fees & Loans Till Revival From COVID 19

COVID 19 outbreak has done a huge financial loss to hotel businesses such as marriage and banquet bookings, amidst this financial calamity hoteliers have urged the government to postpone the payment of interest on bank loans taken by them as they are unable to pay off their liabilities. Adding on to this cordial demand they are asking relief from Goods and Service Tax until the situation is back to its normal mode.

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“Most of the hotels have to pay off loans to the banks and amidst the prevailing situation, it is near to impossible for hotels to pay the routine interests on loans taken from banks (EMIs). The government must guide the Banks and other financial entities to co-operate with the hotel sector and postpone the EMIs on the loans until the sector comes back to life. Also, CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau Ltd), scores should not get affected by the prevailing conditions. The said measures have already been adopted by other countries like China and the USA. The aforesaid was mentioned by J K Mohanty (co-chairman, Ficci tourism national council and chairman (eastern region), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO)) in a memorandum to PM Narendra Modi.

Hoteliers have also urged the govt to postpone the payment of statutory dues like advanced tax payments The complete guide to advance tax along with payment calculation, due dates and guidelines. We describe the advance tax payment calculation formula for easy learning. Read More, provident funds, etc. The grant from Central Government to all these proposals from the travel and hospitality sector will be of great help amidst these crises. The sector at the state level has requested to waive the charges for upcoming licenses, new permits or renewals, municipality tax bar licenses, electricity charges, groundwater charges until the sector copes up with the prevailing pandemic (coronavirus).

In order to let the sector cope up with the prevailing situation, Mohanty has supported the proposal of GST relief to hospitality and travel business for the coming 1 year. Further, he is seeking the immediate grant of funds as per Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the employee genre serving the hospitality and travel sector till the sector revives and is back to normal.