After the success of raising Rs1.7 million as entertainment tax last week from the Bhrikutimandap-based Kathmandu Funpark within 24 hours of notice, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has now set its eyes on bigger tax evaders in the city.

On Monday the city wrote to 17 different business complexes, educational institutions and hospitals to clear property taxes within 10 days. Officials at the Revenue Department at the KMC said those entities have not paid their property taxes for nearly two decades.

“They have not paid taxes since fiscal year 1992/1993,” said Shiva Raj Adhikari, chief of the city’s Revenue Department.

“The tax amount they own totals around Rs300 million,” he added.

In its letter, the city has named Nepal Food Corporation, Thapathali; Ranjana Trade Centre, New Road; Sajha Bhandar, Bhotahiti; Rastriya Naach Ghar and Chamber of Commerce, Jamal.

Others who have not paid taxes to the city for over two decades are Employees Provident Fund, Thamel; Nepal Electricity Authority, Ratnapark; National Trading Limited, Singha Durbar; Krishi Samagri Sansthan, Teku; Manmohan Memorial Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Swayambhu; RB Complex, New Road; Kathmandu Plaza, Putalisadak; Dental College, Samakhushi: CIWEC Hospital, Kapurdhara; and Whitefield School, Nayabazar.

KMC’s Revenue Department chief Adhikari said if they didn’t pay the tax in the stipulated time, the city would take action based on KMC’s Revenue Act 2075 (2018).

Meanwhile, on Sunday the city’s Revenue Department had written to seven casinos in Kathmandu to clear their entertainment taxes within seven days.

According to Adhikari, those casinos have not paid tax to the city for the past five years. The name of tax breachers listed on city’s letter are: Soaltee Casino at Soaltee Hotel Crowne Plaza in Soltimode, Casino Palace, at Annapurna Hotel Durbarmarg, Casino Rad at the Radisson Hotel, Pride Entertainment and Recreation at Hyatt Regency, Taragaon.

Meanwhile, other luxury hotels that have not cleared the entertainment tax to the city are Casino Mahjong based at Soaltee Hotel, Balko Casino at Hotel Aloft, and Bally’s Casino at Hotel Malla.

“We have given tax exemption to casinos for two years as they didn’t have business due to the pandemic, but they should pay the remaining three years’ entertainment tax within seven days starting from Sunday,” said Adhikari.

Last year during the tenure of former mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, in late August, the city had used music and dance to caution tax defaulters. The city had sent letters to 75 businesses and entities which owed Rs600 million in taxes, but the drive was not successful.