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Nepal tax guide

PAN registration in Nepal: who needs a Permanent Account Number, how the IRD issues it, and the rules that come with it

Last checked 27 October 2026 (10 Kartik 2083). By Black Rock, the maker of BRAccount.

The Permanent Account Number (स्थायी लेखा नम्बर, PAN) is the number the Inland Revenue Department gives a person to identify them for tax (Income Tax Act 2058 s78; Income Tax Rules 2059 r2(b)). The same number becomes the business's VAT registration number when it registers for VAT, is the number its TDS is deposited and reported under, and prints on every invoice it issues. Anyone who means to earn assessable income or must withhold tax takes one before the first rupee is earned or withheld (r23(1)); anyone else may. This guide sets out who needs a PAN, how the IRD issues it, where it must appear, how to keep it current, when it is suspended, and the Finance Act 2083's amnesty for those who traded without one.

The short version

  • A PAN is taken before earning assessable income or withholding tax, by anyone who means to do either and by anyone the IRD designates (Rules r23(1); Act s78(4)). Others may take one voluntarily (r23(2)).
  • Not having a PAN releases no one from tax (s78(5)), and the cost falls on the people who deal with you: a bill above Rs 2,000 without the supplier's PAN, and wages to staff without one, are not deductible for the payer (s21(1)).
  • The IRD issues a PAN certificate on application (r23(3)); the application is made on its Taxpayer Portal and the registrant's details are kept in the IRD's biometric system (s78(4A), r23(3A)).
  • A business with a PAN prints its name, address and PAN on every invoice, serially numbered (r23(4)); a VAT tax invoice shows the buyer's PAN too; the monthly TDS statement lists each payee's PAN (s90).
  • Changes in the PAN's details are reported within 15 days (r24); for a VAT registrant the same 15 days carry a Rs 10,000 fine (VAT Act s10(7), s29(1)(b2)). A lost certificate is replaced within three days (r23B).
  • A PAN is suspended when the person stops transacting, an entity closes or is sold, a sole owner dies or it was registered by mistake: apply within 30 days with every return filed (s78A, r23A). Finance Act 2083: take a PAN, file 2079/80 to 2082/83 and pay by 30 Poush 2083 (14 January 2027) and the fees and interest are waived (s40).

What a PAN is

Section 78 of the Income Tax Act lets the Department issue a Permanent Account Number to a person to identify that person; the Rules define it as the account number the Department gives a person for tax purposes (r2(b)). It is one number for one person, whether a company, a partnership, a sole proprietor or an individual earning a salary, and it stays with them: the Act calls it permanent and provides for suspension, not expiry (s78A). The IRD issues nine-digit numbers, and its home page distinguishes a personal PAN (व्यक्तिगत स्थायी लेखा नम्बर) for individuals from the registration of a business, though the law behind both is the one section.

Who issues it
The Inland Revenue Department, through its Inland Revenue Offices and Taxpayer Service Offices. An entity the Department approves may also issue PANs by the Act's procedure, but a PAN issued that way may not be used to import or export for the period the Department setss78(1) and its proviso
What it is for
Identifying the person on every income return, statement, declaration and document the Department names, and in the situations in which it orders a PAN displayed or quoteds78(2)-(3)
VAT, excise and customs
A VAT registration certificate carries the registration number, and the registered person uses that number in every VAT, excise and customs transaction (Rs 1,000 each time it does not)VAT Act s10(4), s10(6), s29(1)(b)
Liability
Not having a PAN releases no one from taxs78(5)

Who must take a PAN, and when

Rule 23 of the Income Tax Rules makes the PAN compulsory for three kinds of person, each before the event that brings them in:

  • Anyone who wishes to earn assessable income: from a business, from employment or from investment. The application is made before the income is earned (r23(1)).
  • Anyone who must withhold tax under Chapter 17 of the Act: every employer, and every business that pays rent, service fees, contract payments or any other payment TDS applies to. The application is made before the first deduction (r23(1); the TDS guide lists the payments).
  • Anyone the Department designates, through the situations it specifies under s78(3): such a person takes a PAN before starting transactions (s78(4); r23(1)).

Everyone else may apply, and the Department issues them a PAN too (r23(2)). A person who holds a PAN and transacts must also register and keep current, in the Department's biometric system, the details its notices name, within the period they set (s78(4A), r23(3A)).

In practice the people who pay you ask for one before the law does:

  • An employer: wages and remuneration paid to staff without a PAN are not a deductible expense, except a one-off wage of up to Rs 3,000 (s21(1)(d1), inserted by the Finance Act 2076).
  • A business customer: an expense on an invoice above Rs 2,000 that shows no PAN is not deductible (s21(1)(d2)); only farm, forest, animal and household produce bought directly from a natural person not in business escapes the rule.
  • A VAT-registered customer: its input credit needs a full tax invoice showing your PAN (VAT guide), and it gives a contract or consultancy worth more than Rs 5 lakh a year only to a VAT-registered person (VAT Rules r6क(2)).
  • Any payer that withholds TDS: its monthly statement lists each payee's name, address and PAN (s90(1)), so a payee without one is a reporting problem for the payer.

How a PAN is issued

The application goes to the Department and the Department issues a PAN certificate (r23(1)-(3)). The IRD takes the application through its Taxpayer Portal (taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np, with a newer portal at taxpayerportalb.ird.gov.np; both are linked from ird.gov.np), and the certificate comes from the Inland Revenue Office or Taxpayer Service Office for the applicant's area, which also records the registrant in the biometric system (s78(4A)). For an individual with a National Identity Number, the IRD's home page points to a video on creating a personal PAN online, automatically, from that number.

This page does not list the papers each office asks for. The IRD publishes no procedure document on ird.gov.np (its PAN category held none on 7 November 2026); the form on the portal says what a company, a firm or an individual attaches, and the office confirms it. Read the portal's form before you go, and take the originals.

Before it is used
The PAN exists before the first income, the first deduction or the first transaction, as the case may ber23(1), s78(4)
Registration for VAT
A separate application to the tax officer, before starting taxable transactions or within 30 days of passing the threshold; the VAT guide has the thresholdsVAT Act s10(1)-(2), VAT Rules r7
Exempt entities
An entity applying for tax-exempt status attaches a copy of its PAN certificate if it has oneRules r3
Lost certificate
A duplicate on application, within three daysr23B
Tax clearance
A person may ask the Department for a certificate that all tax to a date is paid; the Department checks the arithmetic and has any unpaid tax, fee, interest and TDS deposited firstr26

Where the PAN must appear

Every invoice of a business
Its own name, address and PAN, with serial numbers. This is the Income Tax Rules' requirement, so it binds a PAN-only business as much as a VAT registrantr23(4)
The VAT tax invoice
The seller's name, address and PAN, and the buyer's name, address and PAN (Annex 5); the Electronic Billing Procedure 2082 repeats it for electronic bills and their QR codesVAT Rules r17, Annex 5; IRD billing software guide
Returns and statements
Any income return, statement, declaration or document the Department names; the Rules' forms open with the taxpayer's name and PAN (the estimated tax statement, Schedule 2, among them)s78(2), Rules Schedule 2
The monthly TDS statement
Each payment, the payee's name, address and PAN, and the tax withhelds90(1)
The purchase and sales books
Each supplier's and each buyer's PAN per bill, in the VAT purchase book (Annex 8) and sales book (Annex 9)VAT Rules r23-r25
VAT, excise and customs
Every transaction under the registration numberVAT Act s10(6)
The incentive gift programme
A consumer's bill enters the IRD's prize draw only with the seller's PANgift programme guide

The IRD's PAN search on ird.gov.np looks a number up by PAN; it is how a buyer checks a supplier's number before booking a bill above Rs 2,000, and how a payer checks a payee's before the monthly TDS statement.

Keeping the PAN current

Change in any detail on the certificate
Reported to the Department within 15 days; it amends the recordr24
The same change for a VAT registrant
Within 15 days to the tax officer; Rs 10,000 each time it is lateVAT Act s10(7), s29(1)(b2)
Biometric details
Registered and updated in the Department's biometric system within the period its notice setss78(4A), r23(3A)
Bank accounts
The accounts opened in the business's name are reported as the Department determinesr24A
Place of business
A change is reported to the Department (no period is stated)r25
Branches and warehouses (VAT)
Certified by the tax office before trading from them; Rs 10,000 each timeVAT Act s29(1)(j1) (Finance Act 2082)
Notices from the IRD
Count as served when sent to the registered email, fax or address, so the contact details on the record are the ones that matters79(1)

Suspending or closing a PAN

The Department may suspend a PAN when the person stops transacting; when an entity is closed, sold, transferred or otherwise ceases to exist; when a sole proprietor dies; or when the registration was a mistake (s78A(1)). The person applies within 30 days of the event, with reasons, having filed every return to that period and deposited the tax (r23A(1)-(2)); the Department answers within 30 days of the application (r23A(3)). A VAT registration is cancelled on its own rules: the closing return within 30 days, with VAT on stock and capital goods already credited (VAT Act s11, Rules r12).

The Finance Act 2083 adds a deadline for dormant PANs: a holder who has earned no income and done no business, and has filed no return since 2081/82 or earlier, files the 2082/83 return and applies by the end of Poush 2083 (14 January 2027) either to cancel the registration or to resume; without the application the system cancels the PAN by itself, and restarting later means filing and paying for the gap (s40(2)).

The 2083/84 amnesty for those without a PAN

WhoWhat to do, by whenWhat is waivedFinance Act 2083
A person who earned taxable income without a PAN and paid no income taxTake a PAN, file the returns for 2079/80 to 2082/83 and pay their tax by 30 Poush 2083 (14 January 2027)The fees and interest on that tax; the returns, tax, fees and interest for years before 2079/80s40(1)
A PAN holder with returns and tax outstandingPay the tax plus 1% of it and file by 30 Poush 2083The fees and interests40(3)
A resident working for the UN, an international organisation or a diplomatic mission without Vienna Convention exemption, who paid no tax on that payTake a PAN, pay the tax for 2079/80 to 2082/83 plus 1%, file and apply by 29 Mangsir 2083 (15 December 2026)Interest and fees; earlier years need not be filed or paids47
Universities, diplomatic bodies, development partners and non-residents investing in Nepal, with or without a PANNothing, for periods up to 2082/83Income returns and tax for those periods, apart from the TDS already withheld on paymentss37
Old arrears under the Income Tax Act 2031 of a person who never took a PAN and earns nothingNothing: the office may write the arrears off its recordsThe arrearss30(2)

The dates are the Finance Act's; the tax calendar lists them with the year's other deadlines, and penalties and appeals sets out what the fees and interest would otherwise be.

How BRAccount handles the PAN

Each organisation's PAN is entered once, in Company, and prints in the header and the QR code of every bill; every customer's and supplier's PAN lives in their Tax ID field. A purchase bill above Rs 2,000 without the supplier's PAN draws a warning on submit, and the IRD compliance checklist counts the year's such bills and their total. An organisation set as PAN-only cannot add VAT to a bill; the IRD TDS Register lists each payee's PAN for the monthly statement; and the IRD sales and purchase books carry the other party's PAN on every line.

Questions

What is a PAN in Nepal?

The Permanent Account Number: the number the Inland Revenue Department issues to identify a person for tax (Income Tax Act s78). One number covers income tax, TDS, VAT, excise and customs, and it prints on the person's invoices, returns and statements.

Who needs a PAN in Nepal?

Anyone who means to earn assessable income from a business, employment or investment, anyone who must withhold TDS, and anyone the IRD designates, each before the first income, deduction or transaction (Income Tax Rules r23(1), Act s78(4)). Anyone else may take one.

Is a PAN the same as VAT registration?

No. The PAN is the identity number; VAT registration is a separate application to the tax officer once a business passes the turnover threshold, and the registration runs under the same number. A business with only a PAN must not show or collect VAT.

Does an employee need a PAN?

In practice yes: wages and remuneration paid to staff without a PAN are not deductible for the employer, except a one-off wage up to Rs 3,000 (s21(1)), so employers ask for one before the first salary. The IRD's home page points to an automatic online personal PAN for holders of a National Identity Number.

What happens if a supplier has no PAN?

A bill above Rs 2,000 that shows no PAN is not a deductible expense for the buyer (s21(1)), except farm, forest, animal and household produce bought directly from a person not in business. A VAT-registered buyer also gets no input credit without a full tax invoice.

How do I get a PAN in Nepal?

Apply to the IRD; it issues a PAN certificate (Income Tax Rules r23). The application is made on the IRD's Taxpayer Portal and completed at the Inland Revenue Office or Taxpayer Service Office for your area, which records your details in the biometric system. The documents depend on whether you register a company, a firm or yourself; the portal's form lists them.

How do I check a PAN number?

With the IRD's PAN search at ird.gov.np/pan-search/, which looks a number up by PAN.

What if my address or other details change?

Report the change to the IRD within 15 days (Income Tax Rules r24). A VAT registrant has the same 15 days and pays Rs 10,000 each time it is late (VAT Act s10(7), s29(1)(b2)).

Can a PAN be cancelled or suspended?

Yes. The IRD suspends a PAN when the person stops transacting, an entity closes or is sold, a sole proprietor dies or the registration was a mistake; apply within 30 days with every return filed and the tax paid, and the IRD answers within 30 days (s78A, r23A). A dormant PAN not dealt with by 30 Poush 2083 is cancelled by the system (Finance Act 2083 s40(2)).

Is there a fine for not having a PAN?

The Income Tax Act's fixed fines (s117 to s120) attach to late or missing statements, returns and records and to false statements, not to the number itself. But not having a PAN releases no one from tax (s78(5)), the people who pay you lose their deductions, and trading without registering for VAT when due costs Rs 20,000 each time (VAT Act s29(1)(a)).

What is the 2083 amnesty for people without a PAN?

Under the Finance Act 2083 s40(1), a person who earned taxable income without a PAN can take one, file the returns for 2079/80 to 2082/83 and pay their tax by 30 Poush 2083 (14 January 2027); the fees and interest are waived and earlier years are not asked for.

Sources

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