Federal Board of Revenue has reportedly uncovered around 9.5 billion tax evasion on Karachi marriage halls in the past four years.

According to sources, Karachi Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has found tax evasion in the recently conducted physical survey of banquet/marriage halls, The Inland Revenue office visited around 660 marriage halls across the city and inquired them about charges of one function. Charges of marriage halls were variable depending on the location, the sources said.

The management of marriage halls also collected withholding tax on behalf of the FBR but failed to deposit the collection in government accounts.

The tax office estimated that the marriage halls would have arranged approximately 6,972 functions in the past four years.

On the basis of the estimate, the tax office calculated that the tax payable by the owners of marriage halls was Rs9.5 billion. However, the payment made by the marriage halls was only Rs410 million in the last four years.

“Therefore, it is established that an amount of around Rs9.46 billion was evaded by the marriage halls,” an official said, requesting anonymity.