Records at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) show eight casinos operating in the country have never bothered to maintain discipline even when it comes to the settlement of tax liability. “They have an outstanding royalty worth Rs 350 million to settle this year,” said an official. [break]
Casino Nepal has biggest dues of over Rs 100 million. Anna Casino has tax worth Rs 83.2 million to settle, while Casino Royal has Rs 31.7 million and Casino Tara has some Rs 26 million to settle to the government.
Each casino has to pay Rs 20 million per annum as royalty. As per the financial regulations, casino operators are required to settle it within first two months of the fiscal year. “However, none of the casinos ever comply,” said Mahesh Dahal, director general of Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI). On the other hand, revenue officials have been letting the casino operators get away with impunity.
So much so that a senior official of Inland Revenue Office (IRO) - sector 1 complained to Republica that the casino operators do not respond to their call for payment of taxes.
“They even treat our staff badly when they are sent for a follow-up,” he said, requesting not to be named. This statement of the senior tax official speaks volumes about the lack of efficiency and professionalism of the tax administration.
Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal has directed IRD and DRI to initiate action against the casinos.
Casinos owe Rs 500m to hotels too!
Interestingly, Nepal Recreation Center (NRC) -- the manager of casinos in Nepal -- has troubled not just the tax officers. Hoteliers said it has not paid rentals to the hotels where the casinos are run.
“The hotels have an outstanding rent worth Rs 500 million to recover from the NRC. Unfortunately, it turns a deaf ear when asked to make payments,” said Madhav Om Shrestha, executive director of Hotels Association of Nepal (HAN).
What´s the status of NRC?
In Nepal, all the casinos are operated by NRC.
However, their operating licenses are issued under the names of the hotels where they operate. Hence, license agreements signed between the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) and hotels make the latter liable to settle taxes.
But the reality is the NRC functions as the owner of the casinos, shares a portion of financial benefits with the hotels and hoteliers want it to pay the taxes.
Meanwhile, Nepal Police had to drop the idea of issuing arrest warrants against casino owners that illegally entertain Nepali clients in the casinos on Thursday.
“We could not do so because Company Registrar´s Office (CRO) informed us that casinos are not registered under the ownership of NRC,” said Bhog Bahadur Thapa, Superintendent of Police (SP) and acting chief of Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK).
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