In order to retrieve taxes from night clubs that are registered as restaurants, officers from the South Jakarta Tax and Levy Body have to disguise themselves as club patrons.

“Our duty is to chase taxpayers. We will chase them until they pay their taxes,” Yuspin, one of the officers, said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

He said there were five civil servants in his office who were assigned to check whether the night clubs met their responsibility to pay taxes.

South Jakarta collects the biggest tax revenue, which is set to reach Rp 177 billion (US$13 million) this year, from night clubs.

However, not all night clubs pay their taxes regularly because their owners often registered them as restaurants.

“Night clubs have to pay 25 percent tax from its revenue a month, while restaurant only have to pay 10 percent,” Yuspin said. (ecn)