Who must file
Everyone, under Income Tax Act section 96, unless section 97 lets them out. The usual exits: a person with no tax to pay for the year; an employee whose only income is Nepal-source employment from a single resident employer, where the tax the employer withheld is final; a resident natural person paying presumptive tax under section 4(3); a natural person whose only income is a non-business chargeable asset disposal and who chooses not to file. None of that holds once income passes NPR 4,000,000 in the year — above that a natural person must file. The Department can also simply order anyone to file, by letter or public notice.
Tax year and deadline
The income year runs 1 Shrawan to the last day of Ashadh. The return and the tax are due within three months of the year end, so by the last day of Ashoj. For FY 2082/83 that is Ashoj masanta 2083, about 17 October 2026. Extension is not automatic: apply in writing to the Department before the deadline, and if the reason is reasonable it can extend, once or in stages, by at most three months in total — which lands on the last day of Poush, about mid-January 2027. That extension is common enough that a large share of filing happens in Poush rather than Ashoj. For this cycle only, Finance Act 2083 section 40 goes further: file overdue returns and pay the tax plus 1% by the end of Poush 2083 and the fees and interest are waived; someone who earned taxable income without ever taking a PAN can take one, file FY 2079/80 to 2082/83, and owes nothing for earlier years; a dormant PAN holder must file FY 2082/83 and apply to deregister or reactivate by the same date, or the PAN is cancelled automatically.
Filing step by step
- Work out which form applies: D-01 if you pay presumptive tax, D-02 if you pay turnover-based tax, D-03 for business, employment and investment income, D-04 for a natural person with income over NPR 4,000,000.
- Log in at taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np under Income Tax → Taxpayer Login with your PAN and password, and open the return entry for your form and income year.
- Fill in assessable income by source — employment, business, investment — then taxable income and the tax on it, and attach the tax calculation form and anything else the Department has specified. A foreign permanent establishment's repatriated income goes in separately.
- Sign the declaration that the return is true, correct and complete; for an entity the manager signs.
- Pay the balance before you submit — electronically, or by cheque or draft for anything over NPR 1,000,000. If you are going to miss the deadline, send the Department a written extension request before it passes; it must reply to you in writing.
Penalties for filing or paying late
A late or missing annual return costs a fee under Income Tax Act 2058 section 117(1). A person paying the fixed small-business tax under section 4(4) pays Rs 1,200 per return, or Rs 100 for each month if the period is under a year. Everyone else pays the higher of 0.1% a year of assessable income, computed without any deduction, and Rs 1,200 per return. Failing to keep the records required by section 81 costs the higher of 0.1% of assessable income and Rs 1,000 (section 117(2)). Unpaid tax also carries interest under section 119, charged for each month or part of a month at the general interest rate, which section 2 sets at 15% a year. An extension of time granted under section 98 does not remove the interest.