FBR starts survey of schools, colleges

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started survey of schools / educational institutions in order to check their registration with income tax department, sources said on Monday.

In this regard, the Broadening of Tax Base (BTB) of Regional Tax Office (RTO) –II Karachi has prepared the strategy regarding educational institutions for the remaining period of the current fiscal year.

The tax office decided that special teams would visit from March 4, 2019 and check the tax status of schools, pre-schools/Montessori, colleges and educational / tuition centres. Sources said many schools were collecting huge amounts as fee, but not declaring their incomes. For the first time it was decided to check private tuition centres for their income.

They said that Montessori education system were also collecting huge fee from parents, but their contribution into the tax net was close to none. Sources said the FBR would acquire details of fee structure of schools from provincial education department to verify the amount taken as fee from parents.

They said the FBR would urge parents to point out schools, which were not complying with the tax laws. Besides the FBR would also urge the parents to adjust or claim refund against the tax withheld on payment of education fee.