The service tax department has found large scale irregularities by the owners of the photo studios in the city in paying the taxes.

The department sources said that four photo studios were raided on the suspicion of tax evasion and various documents were seized on Tuesday. After the scrutiny of the documents, the photostudio owners have evaded paying Rs 10 lakh worth of service tax.

It was found that the photo studio owners indulged in making wrong entries in the account books and with the bills issued to the customers. The studio owners used to collect service tax on the bills issued to the customers, but the tax amount were not deposited in the department.

"The department is likely to unearth Rs 10 lakh worth of tax evasion by the four studio owners. From now, the department will keep a close eye on these photo studio to check the evasion," said a senior officer.