News India Income Tax department probing alleged violations by American school

Income Tax department probing alleged violations by American school

New Delhi: Income Tax department has begun a “discreet” probe into alleged tax violations by the elite American Embassy school here even as the External Affairs Ministry awaits a response from their officials on the



However, MEA is still awaiting a response on the information sought in December last year on visa and other details of all the teachers at these schools and their salaries along with the bank account details of their Indian staff members.

India, in 1973, had granted “tax exempted status” to 16 teachers of the school. However, as per information available with the government, there were many more teachers who were working but not shown as such.

However, in Washington last month, US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki responded to reports of an Indian government inquiry into allegations of tax evasion with the statement that the school “is not run by the Embassy (and) only about a third of the students there are American”.  

India initiated a slew of initiatives in retaliation against the arrest and strip-search of its senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade, a 39-year-old 1999-batch IFS officer, on December 12 in New York on charges of visa fraud.

Extra privileges given to US diplomats were withdrawn and activities of various American institutions were put under scrutiny as part of Indian government's stern reaction to the issue.

The sprawling school, located next to the US Embassy on American government-owned land, has about 1,500 students on its rolls, nearly 500 of whom are from the US.  

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