LTC Advance & Claim: Documents, Fare and Reimbursement

Important: Verify current DoPT and departmental instructions for your service category before travel, leave or encashment.

Before applying for advance

Get the LTC occasion and leave approved first. Confirm destination, family members, travel entitlement and booking route.

LTC advance

DoPT's 2022 air-ticket instructions allow employees to apply for LTC advance on the basis of a printout from the authorised travel-agent webpage where applicable. Follow your office's prescribed advance form and percentage/amount calculation.

Authorised air-ticket booking

For air travel covered by Government instructions, tickets should be booked through authorised travel agents such as Balmer Lawrie, Ashok Travels & Tours or IRCTC, subject to the current order.

After the journey

Submit the final claim with the sanctioned LTC details and journey evidence required by your department. Include tickets, invoices, boarding passes where applicable, payment records and details of any advance received.

Adjusting the advance

The final claim must account for the advance already drawn. If the admissible reimbursement is lower than the advance, the excess is recoverable.

Private or hired vehicle cases

DoPT has clarified that even where fare reimbursement is not claimed or is nil in certain cases, leave encashment may still be admissible if procedural conditions are met, including prior LTC intimation, sanctioned leave, timely leave-encashment request and self-declaration of actual travel.

Do not wait to reconstruct records

Save all tickets, cancellations, refunds and boarding documents as the journey happens. Missing evidence is a common cause of LTC claim objections.

If the claim is returned

Respond to the exact objection—such as unauthorised booking, missing journey proof, wrong block, excess fare or family eligibility—rather than resubmitting an unchanged claim.

Official sources

Source review: 10 September 2026.

LTC Advance & Final Claim