Chapter 1 · Week 1 — The Portal, and the Registration Gateway
The Portal and the Registration Gateway
The twelve modules of the IRD portal, the entry-door/login-door pattern that repeats everywhere, and the six-step compliance chain.
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Nepal's entire tax system runs through one web application. Learn its shape in week one and everything after it is detail.
1.1 What the portal actually is
The IRD Taxpayer Portal is a single application with one tree of services. The tree, read from the live portal, is the map of Nepali tax compliance:
INTEGRATED TAX SYSTEM │ ├── General login, password, payment voucher search ├── Registration PAN · VAT · Excise ├── VAT return entry, close of business ├── Estimated Return the advance-tax estimate ├── Income Tax D-01 · D-02 · D-03 · D-04 ├── Excise returns, permits, brand registration ├── E-TDS withholding returns ├── Diplomatic Refund ├── Health Tax ├── Education Tax ├── Electronic Billing └── Other Offices
Almost everyone who files in Nepal touches three of those twelve: Registration once, Income Tax every year, and VAT every cycle if registered. The rest are specialist. But knowing the whole tree tells you where a problem lives.
1.2 The one pattern that repeats everywhere
Look carefully at any module in the tree and you see the same two doors:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ VAT Return ENTRY VAT Return LOGIN │ │ Income Tax D-01 ENTRY Tax Return LOGIN │ │ Excise Return ENTRY Excise Return LOGIN │ │ Estimated Return ENTRY Estimated Return LOGIN │ │ Registration APPLICATION Registration LOG IN │ │ │ │ ▲ ▲ │ │ │ │ │ │ START a new RETURN to one you │ │ submission already started │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This is the single most useful thing to understand about the portal, because it explains the most common panic in Nepali tax filing:
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU START A SUBMISSION
ENTRY door
│
▼
you fill the form and SUBMIT
│
▼
the system issues a SUBMISSION NUMBER + you set a PASSWORD
│ │
│ └──── WRITE BOTH DOWN. NOW.
▼
the submission is SAVED but not necessarily COMPLETE
│
▼
LOGIN door ──── submission number + password ────► reopen it
│
▼
verify → print → pay → the cycle closes
Lose the submission number or the password and you cannot get
back into that submission through the LOGIN door. That is the
number one avoidable failure in Nepali e-filing, and it costs
people a trip to the tax office.1.3 The compliance chain
Nothing in the tree stands alone. The order is fixed and each step depends on the one before.
┌──────────────┐
│ 1. PAN │ Permanent Account Number
│ REGISTRATION│ the identity every other module keys off
└──────┬───────┘
│ you cannot do anything else without this
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 2. VAT / │ only if you cross the threshold [R] or
│ EXCISE │ operate in a listed activity
│ REGISTRATION│
└──────┬───────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 3. PERIODIC │ VAT return each cycle
│ RETURNS │ E-TDS return each month you withhold
│ │ Excise return if registered
└──────┬───────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 4. ESTIMATED│ the advance-tax estimate for the year,
│ RETURN │ and instalments against it
└──────┬───────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 5. ANNUAL │ D-01 / D-02 / D-03 / D-04
│ INCOME TAX │ the return that settles the year
│ RETURN │
└──────┬───────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 6. PAYMENT │ voucher → bank → the payment attaches
│ │ to the return
└──────────────┘Miss step 1 and nothing else is possible. Miss step 4 and step 5 arrives with interest attached. That is the whole compliance year in one column.
1.4 PAN — the identity layer
Everything keys off the Permanent Account Number. One PAN, one taxpayer, one thread of history in the system.
REGISTRATION MODULE Application For Registration ← the ENTRY door Registration Log In ← the LOGIN door The application covers PAN, VAT and Excise from one place, which is why the folder is labelled "Registration(PAN,VAT,EXCISE)".
What the application establishes, and why each matters later:
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ WHAT YOU DECLARE │ WHAT IT DETERMINES DOWNSTREAM │ ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Type of person │ WHICH RETURN FORM you file │ │ (natural person, │ — this is Week 2, and getting it wrong │ │ firm, company) │ means filing the wrong form all year │ ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Business activity │ whether VAT or Excise registration is │ │ │ compulsory regardless of turnover [R] │ ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Tax office │ which IRD/ Taxpayer Service Office your │ │ │ file physically belongs to │ ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Accounting basis │ cash or accrual — decides WHEN income │ │ and fiscal year │ is recognised in every later return │ └────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┘
1.5 VAT registration — the threshold decision
TWO ROADS INTO VAT REGISTRATION [R] ┌────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────┐ │ COMPULSORY │ │ VOLUNTARY │ │ │ │ │ │ turnover crosses the │ │ below the threshold, │ │ threshold in the │ │ but you choose to │ │ Act [R] │ │ register │ │ OR │ │ │ │ you operate in an │ │ Why anyone would: │ │ activity the Act │ │ to reclaim input VAT │ │ lists as compulsory │ │ and to be able to │ │ regardless of size │ │ invoice registered │ │ │ │ customers │ └────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘
The arithmetic that decides it:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ANNUAL TAXABLE TURNOVER │ │ = total supplies of taxable goods and services │ │ over the measurement period │ │ − exempt supplies │ │ │ │ Compare against the registration threshold in the │ │ VAT Act in force. [R] │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Worked example — the threshold trap.
A trader's year (illustrative figures):
Sales of taxable goods Rs 4,200,000
Sales of exempt goods Rs 1,100,000
Sale of an old delivery van Rs 900,000
──────────────
Total money received Rs 6,200,000
The mistake people make: comparing Rs 6,200,000 to the
threshold and panicking (or comparing Rs 4,200,000 and
relaxing) without checking what belongs in the test.
TAXABLE TURNOVER is not total receipts:
− exempt sales are excluded
− a one-off disposal of a business asset is treated
under its own rule, not as ordinary turnover [R]
Taxable turnover for the test ≈ Rs 4,200,000
Whether that crosses depends entirely on the threshold in
force. The POINT of the example is the composition, not the
answer: know which rupees enter the test before you compare.1.6 Payment Voucher Search — the module nobody reads
Sitting quietly under General is Payment Voucher Search, and it settles more disputes than any other screen in the portal.
HOW A TAX PAYMENT ACTUALLY WORKS IN NEPAL
portal generates a VOUCHER
│ (a reference number, an amount, a revenue head)
▼
you pay at the bank / through the bank channel
│
▼
the bank reports the payment against the voucher
│
▼
the payment ATTACHES to your PAN and the right revenue head
│
▼
it becomes visible in Payment Voucher Search
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ A payment that does not appear here HAS NOT LANDED in │
│ the tax system, no matter what your bank receipt says. │
│ │
│ Check it BEFORE the deadline, not after. The gap │
│ between "paid at the bank" and "credited to your PAN" │
│ is where late-payment interest is born. │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘1.7 The two clocks
Every deadline in this system runs on the Nepali fiscal year, and every screen shows Bikram Sambat.
THE FISCAL YEAR — Shrawan 1 to Ashad end
Shrawan Bhadra Ashoj Kartik Mangsir Poush Magh Falgun Chaitra Baisakh Jeth Ashad
│ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │ 10 │ 11 │ 12 │
mid-Jul mid-Jul
Two things this changes for a filer:
1. The annual income tax return covers Shrawan-to-Ashad,
not January-to-December. Your accounting year must match.
2. Every due date in the portal is a BS date. Converting it
wrong by one month is a real and common way to be late.1.8 Before you touch the portal
The single biggest cause of a failed filing is starting the form before the numbers are ready.
THE PRE-FLIGHT LIST ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [ ] PAN, and the login credentials for it │ │ [ ] The fiscal year you are filing for, in BS │ │ [ ] Books closed: a trial balance that balances │ │ [ ] Bank statements reconciled to the books │ │ [ ] Every TDS certificate received, totalled │ │ [ ] Every advance tax / instalment already paid, │ │ with voucher numbers │ │ [ ] VAT returns for the year, filed and agreeing │ │ with the sales figure you are about to declare │ │ [ ] Somewhere to write the submission number and │ │ the password the portal gives you │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The portal is a TRANSCRIPTION tool. It does not do your accounting. Everything above must be true before you open it.
Formulas from this week
Annual taxable turnover (for the VAT threshold test) [R]
= taxable supplies of goods and services
− exempt supplies
(one-off disposals of business assets follow their own rule)
Compliance sequence
PAN → VAT/Excise registration (if required)
→ periodic returns → estimated return
→ annual return → paymentWhat you should be able to do now
- Name the twelve modules of the portal and say which three most filers use.
- Explain the ENTRY-door / LOGIN-door pattern and why the submission number and password must be recorded immediately.
- Lay out the six-step compliance chain and say what each step depends on.
- Name the four registration answers that determine your obligations for life.
- Compute taxable turnover for the VAT threshold test and say which receipts are excluded.
- Explain what Payment Voucher Search proves, and why a bank receipt alone does not.
- Convert a Nepali fiscal-year deadline correctly between BS and AD.
Next week: the four income tax return forms — D-01, D-02, D-03 and D-04 — and how to know which one is yours.
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