M M Jasim :Most of the private schools and colleges earn a huge amount of money through collection of tuition and other fees from the students, but they hardly pay income tax to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and thereby deprive the government of revenues every year.In view thereof, the NBR has taken the initiatives to bring the private schools and colleges, including English medium educational institutions, under surveillance to check the tax evasion.NBR sources said that some 140 private schools had paid Tk 55.28 crore as income tax during the 2014-15 fiscal, while 28 colleges paid Tk 6.73 crore. On the other hand, 52 private universities paid Tk 84 crore as tax.But the real scenario is different. There are about 18,000 private schools in the country. A number of private schools and colleges evade tax hiding its actual income and expenditure every year. Some of them did not even inform NBR about their institutions. The education ministry is going to draft a policy for the private educational institutions where it has divided the schools and colleges into three categories. The ‘A’ category schools have been divided into two levels. The admission and session fees of schools in the metropolitan areas should be Tk 30,000, while the admission and the session fees of schools outside the metropolitan area should be Tk 15,000. Further, such school must have minimum 700 students, skilled teachers and education friendly infrastructure. The ‘B-category’ institutions’ admission and session fees should be Tk 18,000 if in the metropolitan areas while Tk 7,000 if outside the metropolitan. The ‘B-category’ category institution must have minimum 400-699 students, skilled teachers and education friendly infrastructure.The government treats those institutions as ‘C-category’ if the number of students is below 400. The ‘C-category’ institution can collect Tk 8,000 as admission and session fees situated in the metropolitan areas and Tk 4,000 if outside the metropolitan.Realizing the matter, the top officials of the NBR have decided to take steps against tax evading institutions. And the NBR ordered its officials to bring these private institutions under surveillance. Member of Tax Administration and Human Resources Management Abdur Razzak told The New Nation that the institutions remaining outside the tax net are being identified and being brought under the purview of income tax. And those which are now under the tax net will come under audit before realising taxes from them.NBR sources say if the schools earn less than Tk 2,20,000 each, they need not pay any tax like as an individual taxpayer. They will simply submit the return. Schools earning Tk three lakh must pay tax at the rate of 10 percent, schools earning Tk four lakh, the tax will be 15 percent and for the next Tk 5 lakh the rate is 20 percent, for the next Tk 30 lakh the rate is Tk 25 percent and for income above Tk 44 lakh, the tax rate is 30 percent. Besides, the private universities pay 15 percent tax on their income.
