The most famous Pakistani candid camera prankster of recent times Nadir Ali, better known by his YouTube channel, P 4 Pakao is in hot waters. Nadir was sent a notice by the tax authorities claiming he owes up to PKR 13 million in taxes.
Nadir makes short videos — usually 5 to 10 minutes long — of pulling pranks on unsuspecting people on road and in markets around the country. According to media reports, his videos get more than a million hits each and the channel has more than three million subscribers. The channel has racked up more than 820 million views in total, making it one of the largest online channels in Pakistan.
He has been under investigation by The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for concealment of income for a while now. During the course of investigation, he had been served notices earlier as well but he has not replied to any of them. He now has the option to appeal the order before the Commissioner Appeals in the Revenue Tax Office in Karachi.
The channel has over 3 million subscribers
After Nadir started P 4 Pakao in May 2016, he registered with the income tax department on October 2017. The online prankster filed tax returns for nil income in the years 2016-2017. For the years 2018-2019, he declared his income at PKR 809,762 and PKR 14.44 million, respectively.
The FBR investigation reveals that Nadir Ali’s tax returns do not contain a full record of his income, leading them to suspect that he has concealed his income. FBR later verified from YouTube that Nadir received an income of PKR 2.186 million in 2017, PKR 28.335 million in 2018 and PKR 46.762 million in 2019. Moreover, he received more than 10 million rupees of foreign exchange as well.
The case is the first in what FBR officials say a series of actions against individuals deriving large income from hosting online content that have not been declared for tax purposes.
