Lahore's wedding season is a serious economy, and New Garden Town has plenty of the businesses behind it: event planners, decorators, photography and videography studios, mehndi and stage designers, caterers. They live on advance bookings, peak months and a network of freelancers — a pattern that makes the books unusual but not difficult.
Bookings and advances
Wedding businesses take bookings months ahead, with an advance and the balance on or after the event. For tax:
- A non-refundable advance is generally income when received, or when the event happens if that's your consistent policy.
- A refundable deposit is a liability until the event.
- Cancellations: amounts kept are income; amounts refunded reduce the liability.
Pick a method and apply it every year; switching makes profits jump around.
A typical event's money trail
| Item | Records |
|---|---|
| Client payments (advance + balance) | Booking contract, receipts, bank |
| Venue, flowers, lighting, rentals | Supplier bills |
| Freelance photographers, decorators | Payment record per person |
| Food and staff (caterers) | Purchase bills, wages |
| Profit | Per-event summary |
A per-event sheet — income and costs for each wedding — is the best single tool these businesses can keep.
Paying freelancers
Event businesses rely on freelancers — second shooters, editors, decor labour, waiters. Pay by bank where possible and record each payment. If your business is a prescribed person for withholding purposes, payments for services may carry withholding obligations.
Sales tax on services
Event management, catering, photography and decoration services can all fall within the Punjab Revenue Authority's sales tax on services, depending on the service and turnover. Caterers are often treated under restaurant/catering rules. Larger planners serving corporate events are more likely to need registration. We check before you register.
Equipment
Cameras, lenses, drones, lighting rigs, sound systems, stage structures and catering equipment are capital assets. Record and depreciate them. Gear rented in for an event is an expense.
Seasonality makes cash-flow lumpy. A business that earns most of its year in four months should still file the whole year's figures together — don't treat the peak season as "the business" and the rest as personal.
Structure
Many event businesses are partnerships of friends. An AOP is the honest structure; a company suits larger firms with corporate clients.
Corporate events and brand activations
Planners who also handle corporate events — product launches, conferences, brand activations — deal with companies that withhold tax and require proper invoices with NTN and, often, PRA registration. Corporate work is usually invoiced in full and paid by bank, which makes it the best-documented part of the business. Keep it on the same books as weddings, but tag each event's type so you can see where your profit actually comes from.
New Garden Town — questions we get asked
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