NATTA expresses reservations over keeping VAT on airfares

Kathmandu, May 31: The Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) has expressed reservations over retaining VAT imposition on airfares.

According to the Association, the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2082/83 BS has not removed the VAT imposed on airfares. NATTA’s General Secretary, Yuvika Bhandari, stated today in a press release that serious attention has been drawn to the annual budget unveiled by the government for the fiscal year 2082/83.

“Among several issues continuously raised before the government for the past two years, especially regarding opaque arrangements related to the Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on national and international airfares, it has saddened everyone concerned with tourism that the tax has been maintained again this year”, the press release stated.

Noting that the new budget appears to have brought positive policies and arrangements in various aspects of the tourism sector, Secretary Bhandari said arrangements related to the VAT imposed on airfares have discouraged the arrival of tourists.