Not claiming your leave travel allowance (LTA) can add to higher tax outgo at this time of the year. LTA is simply an allowance granted to you, as an employee, for travelling anywhere within the country when on leave from work.

When you don't claim it, the unclaimed amount is taxed according to the slab. If you are entitled to Rs 22,000 as LTA in a year, but claim only Rs 9,000, the remaining Rs 13,000 gets taxed.

"Companies urge employees to claim the entire LTA to avoid getting taxed. LTA is a good tax-saving instrument," says Sangeeta Lala, vice-president, TeamLease. Under Section 10 of the Income Tax Act, an employee is allowed an income tax exemption when he is travelling, along with his family members, on a holiday for a period of more than five days.

Human resource personnel advise employees, in this case, to claim tickets of immediate family members as well, to avoid getting taxed. LTA covers travel for you and your family. Family, in this case, includes yourself, parents, siblings dependent on you, spouse (even if he/she is working) and up to two children.

But remember: If your family travels without you, no LTA can be claimed for them. So, you have to make the trip either alone or, if claiming for your family, you should travel with them.

Domestic flight tickets can be claimed if you furnish the boarding pass. Train tickets are acknowledged, too. Road travel should be by government bus only. "LTA is not applicable for foreign travel. And, the tax benefit one can enjoy depends on the LTA component itself," adds Mistry. However, if you get an LTA of Rs 1 lakh and travel with spouse and two children, even on taking round trip flight tickets you will not be able to avail the entire allowance.

If both you and spouse have travelled together and want to claim LTA at respective companies, can you do so? If you claim, your spouse can't. His/her LTA will be taxed. Unless, of course, you go for another holiday. In case of a job change, the LTA can be availed from the both the new and former employers, provided it is unutilised.

A small problem with LTA is that you can claim only twice in four years, says Homi Mistry, tax partner at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. January 2012 falls under the 2010-2013 four-year period. Importantly, you can claim only once in a year. Both journeys cannot be claimed in a single year.

If you do not make the claim on time, you can do so when filing returns and avail a refund.