Tax evasion notices issued to 6,324 schools, tuition centres

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday served notices to 6,324 private schools and tuition centres in the port city for failing to pay their due taxes despite having “booming businesses”.

According to the details, the Karachi Regional Tax Officer (RTO-II), during a survey conducted by the Broadening of Tax Base (BTB) Zone, said that quite a large number of private schools, A-Level, O-Level tuition centres, pre-nursery training schools and other academies own booming businesses in the city; however, none were registered with the FBR and continue to evade taxes.

“These tuition centres, academies and schools are not filing their income tax return and statement under section of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and are not deducting tax under section 149 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 on salaries being given to the teachers and staff and also not deducting tax on supplies under section 153 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. Thus, they are incurring a huge loss to the national exchequer,” said the RTO as quoted by a local news outlet.