THE ISSUE
Starting from the very first day of the current Fiscal Year (2019/20), the Government of Nepal made it mandatory for all salaried employees, public and private sectors. In the following months, there has been a surge in the number of registered taxpayers in Nepal. As per the second Economic Bulletin of the Ministry of Finance, as of September 17 (end of the month of Bhadra in Nepal’s Bikram Sambat calendar), there were a total of 2,762,135 registered permanent account numbers (PAN). Of the total registered PAN; 1,256,099 belong to business PAN (BPAN); 1,504,233 belong to personal PAN (PPAN) and 1,803 belong to withholder PAN (WPAN) category. In addition, there are 232,120 and 88,341 registered value added tax (VAT) and excise accounts.
Between August 18 and September 17, 2019 alone; the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) of the Government of Nepal registered new 42,511; 257,383; and 699 BPAN, PPAN and WPAN respectively. These new registrants account for more than three percent, seventeen percent and thirty-eight percent of total BPAN, PPAN and WPAN registered with the IRD. Similarly, this period saw 7,314 (more than three percent of total VAT accounts) and 5,713 (more than six percent of total excise accounts) new VAT and excise registrants.
WHAT THIS MEANS?
- Larger public revenue base,
- Increased size of Nepal’s formal economy, and
- Helping Government of Nepal and key stakeholders to track country’s major growth sectors and their statues over the period.
