PAN Card Registration in Nepal 2026 — Process, Documents, Fees

A bank in Kathmandu will not open an account without one, an employer will not put a salaried employee on the payroll without one, the Land Revenue Office will not register a real-estate purchase without one, and the Department of Transport Management will not issue a vehicle bluebook without one. The Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is the gateway identifier for every taxpayer interaction in Nepal — and is mandated by Section 78 of the Income Tax Act 2058 for any person carrying on a business, receiving employment income above the exemption threshold, or entering a transaction that the Act lists as PAN-requiring.

This guide is the 2026 (2083 BS) practitioner's deep-dive on PAN card registration in Nepal — the 9-digit Permanent Account Number, the personal PAN, business PAN, and D-PAN (withholding-agent) categories, the legal trigger under Section 78 of the Income Tax Act 2058, eligibility, the required document set for individual and business applicants, the online registration process through taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np, the biometric and final-issuance step at the local Inland Revenue Office, the zero-fee policy, the 1-to-3 working day timeline, the transactions that require a PAN, the integration with the Nagarik App, and the penalty exposure for non-registration. For the broader tax framework see our companion income tax rate in Nepal guide and the Income Tax Act 2058 law-explainer.

What is the governing law for PAN in Nepal?

PAN in Nepal is established and administered under the Income Tax Act 2058 (2002) — the consolidating direct-tax statute. Section 78 of the Act mandates the obtaining of a PAN by every person carrying on a business, every employer of taxable employees, every withholding agent under Chapter 17, and every individual required to file an income-tax return. The Act empowers the Inland Revenue Department to require PAN disclosure on any return, statement, version, or other document submitted to the department. Procedural detail is supplied by the Income Tax Rules 2059 (2002) and operational guidance by IRD circulars. Section 117 of the Act provides the penalty exposure for failure to register when required, and Section 122 the false-statement penalty for incorrect PAN disclosure. The PAN regime sits inside the broader self-assessment framework of the Act — see our Income Tax Act 2058 law-explainer for the surrounding context.

What is a PAN card in Nepal?

A Permanent Account Number (PAN) is the 9-digit unique identifier issued by the Inland Revenue Department to every taxpayer registered under the Income Tax Act 2058. It is the operational identifier for every interaction with the tax system — annual returns, withholding-tax filings, refund claims, VAT returns where the entity is VAT-registered, customs declarations, and any IRD assessment correspondence. Beyond the tax system, the PAN has become a universal financial identifier in Nepal: banks require it to open accounts, employers require it to credit salary, registration offices require it to register property and vehicle transactions, and large commercial contracts increasingly require it as a counterparty identifier.

The PAN is permanent — issued once to a taxpayer and remains valid for life regardless of changes in employment, residence, marital status, or business form. The PAN sticker on the physical certificate, and the digital PAN available through the Nagarik App, both reference the same 9-digit number. A taxpayer never receives more than one personal PAN; a business entity receives one business PAN that persists through its corporate life and is surrendered only on dissolution. The PAN number is the key on which IRD's databases are organised, and ensures that income from multiple sources accruing to the same person is aggregated correctly for tax computation.

What are the categories of PAN in Nepal?

Three operational categories exist. Personal PAN is issued to natural persons — Nepali citizens, Non-Resident Nepalis with Nepal-source income, and foreign nationals working or doing business in Nepal. It applies to employees, self-employed professionals, freelancers, investors, and any individual receiving income above the exemption threshold or entering a PAN-required transaction. Business PAN is issued to entities — private and public limited companies under the Companies Act 2063, partnerships under the Partnership Act 2020, sole proprietorships registered with the Department of Industry or local registration authority, profit-not-distributing companies under Chapter 19 of the Companies Act, cooperatives under the Cooperatives Act 2074, and NGOs under the Association Registration Act 2034.

D-PAN or Withholding-Agent PAN is the third category — issued to entities required to deduct tax at source under Chapter 17 of the Income Tax Act 2058. Most business PANs simultaneously function as withholding-agent PANs when the business has employees or makes other TDS-attracting payments, so a separate D-PAN registration is rare; the same PAN is used in both capacities with different filing modules on the IRD portal. Government bodies and constitutional bodies are also issued PANs for their tax-administration interactions. Foreign entities operating in Nepal through a branch or project office under the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2075 (FITTA) receive a PAN for their Nepal operations even though their head office is foreign-incorporated.

Who is required to register for a PAN?

Section 78 of the Income Tax Act 2058 read with the Income Tax Rules 2059 makes PAN registration mandatory in several scenarios. Every person carrying on a business in Nepal — whether incorporated as a company, registered as a partnership, or operating as a sole proprietor — must obtain a PAN before commencing operations. Every individual receiving employment income above the basic exemption threshold (NPR 500,000 for single, NPR 600,000 for couples in FY 2082/83) must have a PAN so the employer can withhold TDS correctly. Every withholding agent — entities required to deduct tax at source on payments such as dividend, interest, rent, royalty, service fee, or payment to non-resident — needs a PAN to function as the agent.

Beyond the mandatory trigger, PAN is the practical prerequisite for most economic activity in Nepal. Banks require PAN to open savings or current accounts above the basic-KYC level. The Land Revenue Office requires PAN of both buyer and seller to register a real-estate transfer. The Department of Transport Management requires PAN for vehicle registration above the threshold. The Office of the Company Registrar uses the directors' personal PAN as one of the identity reference fields. Public-sector tender authorities require PAN for any contract above NPR 1 lakh. The cumulative effect is that any meaningful financial activity in Nepal — even by a non-resident with a Nepal-source receipt — requires a PAN at the gate.

What documents are required for PAN registration?

For an individual applicant, the standard document set is: citizenship certificate (both front and back sides, scanned in colour); a recent passport-size photograph (white background, JPG format); proof of current address (a utility bill in the applicant's name, a ward letter from the local ward office, or a tenancy agreement counter-signed by the landlord); and an active Nepal mobile number for the OTP verification step. For a Non-Resident Nepali, the citizenship document is substituted by the NRN identity card or a passport with NRN status documentation. For a foreign national, a valid passport, a visa appropriate to the activity (work, business, or investor), and any FITTA or sector-regulator approval evidencing the right to do business or work in Nepal.

For a business applicant, the document set comprises: the business registration certificate from OCR (companies), the Department of Industry / local registration (sole proprietorships, small businesses), or the Department of Cottage and Small Industries (cottage industries); the MOA and AOA (companies) or the partnership deed (partnerships); citizenship copies of all proprietors, partners, or directors; an office address proof — rental agreement or ownership document for the registered office, with landlord consent where applicable; and the business mobile number and email for the OTP verification. Sector-specific businesses (banks, insurance, telecom, schools, hospitals) need their sector-regulator licence as additional documentation.

How do I register for a PAN online in Nepal?

The online registration runs through taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np. The applicant clicks Taxpayer Registration, selects the category (Personal, Business, or Withholding Agent), and is presented with the registration form. The form captures the applicant's particulars — for individuals, name, date of birth, citizenship number, permanent and current address, occupation, employer (if applicable), mobile number, and email; for businesses, registered entity name, registration number, registration authority, registered office address, business activity, proprietor or director particulars with citizenship numbers, authorised contact person, mobile, and email.

The applicant uploads scanned copies of the supporting documents — JPG or PDF format, typically capped at 1-to-2 MB per file. The system validates the citizenship number against the Ministry of Home Affairs database (where integration is live) and triggers an OTP to the mobile number for confirmation. On successful submission the system issues a draft PAN and a submission acknowledgement number. The draft PAN is provisional — it cannot yet be used for transactions — pending the biometric and document-verification step at the local IRD office. The acknowledgement number is used to track the status on the portal.

What happens at the IRD office for biometric verification?

After online submission, the applicant visits the local Inland Revenue Office having jurisdiction over the registered address with the original documents — the original citizenship certificate (or NRN identity / foreign passport), originals of the address-proof documents, the original business registration certificate where applicable, and the original photograph. The IRD officer verifies the originals against the uploaded scans, captures the applicant's biometric (fingerprint and photograph), and confirms or corrects the data captured online. For a business applicant, the proprietor, managing director, or duly authorised signatory attends; for a company, the company secretary or authorised representative typically attends with a board resolution authorising the registration.

On successful verification the IRD officer issues the PAN certificate — a printed certificate with the 9-digit PAN, the registered name, the date of issue, and the IRD office stamp. For individuals, the certificate carries the photograph; for businesses, the registered name and the registration reference. The certificate is collected the same day for straightforward cases; for cases requiring further verification (foreign nationals, complex business structures, sector-regulator coordination) the certificate is issued in a follow-up visit. The PAN is simultaneously recorded in the IRD database, becoming searchable through the public PAN-verification facility at ird.gov.np/pan-search/.

How do I register for PAN through the Nagarik App?

The Nagarik App is the Government of Nepal's citizen-services mobile platform — an integrated identity, tax, vehicle, and public-service portal on a single login. For citizens with a smartphone and a linked citizenship record, the Nagarik App is the fastest route to PAN registration: the full process completes on the device in under 20 minutes for a clean profile, and the e-PAN is delivered to the app shortly after submission.

The end-to-end Nagarik App PAN registration runs through 10 steps:

1. Download Nagarik App — from Google Play Store (Android) or App Store (iOS).
2. Register with mobile number — the Nepal SIM you will use long-term.
3. Verify with OTP — one-time password sent to the registered mobile.
4. Link citizenship — enter citizenship number and verify against MoHA database.
5. Select PAN Registration — from the taxpayer-services module in the app.
6. Choose IRD office — pick the Inland Revenue Office having jurisdiction over your address.
7. Capture passport-size photo — taken with the device camera against a plain background.
8. Upload photo — the app validates format and quality.
9. Fill required form fields — address, occupation, employer (where applicable), email.
10. Submit application — IRD processes and delivers the e-PAN back to the app, typically within a few hours to 2 working days.

The Nagarik App route eliminates the separate web-portal step and bundles the biometric-equivalent verification into the citizenship-link and photo-capture sequence. For most individual applicants the e-PAN issued through the Nagarik App is accepted in place of the physical certificate by banks, employers, and registration offices — the QR code on the digital card is verifiable in real time, harder to forge than paper, and refreshed automatically when IRD updates the linked profile. The physical certificate can still be collected from the local IRD office for applicants who prefer it for record-keeping.

The web-portal route at taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np remains the right channel for business PAN registration, withholding-agent registration, foreign-national registration, and any case where the citizenship cannot be linked to the Nagarik App profile. The two channels run off the same IRD database, so a PAN issued through one is immediately reflected in the other.

Alternate route — Nepal Trade Portal

For traders and businesses, a parallel registration route is available through the Nepal Trade Portal at nepaltradeportal.gov.np/register-pan/vat — a single-window facility for trade-related registrations administered by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies in coordination with IRD. The Trade Portal route is appropriate where the PAN and VAT registrations are being filed together as part of a trade-business setup, or where the business is being onboarded as part of an import-export framework. The underlying PAN database and certificate are the same as those issued through the IRD portal; only the application channel differs.

How long does PAN registration take?

For a clean application — accurate citizenship, complete documents, validated mobile number, in-person attendance for biometric — the issuance is typically same-day to 3 working days. The online submission is essentially instant; the IRD office attendance for biometric verification depends on the office's queue; the certificate is issued within the same visit or the next working day for ordinary cases. For businesses, the timeline is at the longer end because of the additional document checks — business registration verification, MOA/AOA review, director-citizenship cross-check. For applications requiring further inquiry — discrepancies in citizenship, address mismatch, sector-regulator coordination — the timeline extends to 1-to-2 weeks.

The most common cause of delay is incomplete or inconsistent documentation. A citizenship scan that is poorly legible, an address-proof document that does not match the current address, a photograph that fails the format requirement, or an OTP that the applicant cannot receive (Nepal-roaming or out-of-country) — each of these forces a re-submission and extends the timeline. The remedy is to prepare the document set carefully against the IRD checklist before the online submission, rather than iterating after rejection.

The transactions that require a PAN, at a glance

To translate the ecosystem map into a working checklist — the specific transactions that the institutions above will not process without a valid PAN:

• Opening a bank account — every commercial bank in Nepal under the NRB KYC framework.
• Receiving salary above the exemption threshold — employer for TDS withholding under Chapter 17.
• Real-estate purchase or sale — Land Revenue Office requires PAN of both buyer and seller.
• Vehicle registration — Department of Transport Management at initial registration and transfer.
• Business or company registration — OCR and Department of Industry use directors' personal PAN as identity reference.
• Contracts above NPR 1 lakh — counterparty PAN required for TDS, VAT, and audit trail.
• Loan application — banks and FIs at credit appraisal under NRB directives.
• Public-sector tender — tendering authority for bidder identification and tax-clearance checks.

What does a PAN cost?

PAN registration is free — no government fee is charged by IRD for either the online submission or the in-person biometric step. The Income Tax Act 2058 and the Income Tax Rules 2059 do not impose any registration fee, and IRD has consistently maintained the zero-fee policy. The only costs an applicant incurs are: photocopies of supporting documents (nominal cost at any photocopy shop); notarisation of business documents where required (typically a few hundred rupees per document); and any agent or consultant fee where the applicant chooses to engage professional help rather than file directly.

Be cautious of intermediaries advertising "fast PAN" or "expedited PAN" for a fee. The IRD process has no expedite route; the timeline is determined by the office queue and the completeness of the file, not by any premium-fee channel. Where an intermediary charges a fee, it is for their service in preparing the file and accompanying the applicant — not for any official charge. For a straightforward individual application, self-filing is entirely practical; for a complex business with multiple stakeholders or foreign promoter participation, professional help can shorten the cycle by avoiding documentation iterations.

What is the penalty for not having a PAN?

The penalty exposure is real but indirect. Section 117 of the Income Tax Act 2058 imposes a late-registration penalty on a person who fails to register when required — typically a fixed daily penalty up to a statutory cap, with the exact amount set by the Income Tax Rules 2059. Beyond the direct penalty, the practical consequences are immediate: tax computed without PAN credit is taxed at the higher non-PAN rate on certain withholding transactions; banks freeze accounts or refuse to open them; the Land Revenue Office refuses transaction registration; vehicle bluebook applications are rejected; and employers cannot legitimately pay salary without it. The cost of operating without a PAN is materially higher than the cost of registering.

Where a taxpayer has been operating without a PAN and the underlying transactions have already been completed, the remedy is to register and disclose the historical position — typically through a voluntary application accompanied by the relevant transaction details and an application for penalty waiver under bona-fide-mistake grounds. IRD has discretion under Section 117 to waive or reduce penalty where the failure to register was inadvertent and the disclosure is prompt; the discretion is rarely exercised where the failure is wilful or where the taxpayer disclosed only after IRD enquiry.

How does PAN registration work for Non-Resident Nepalis and foreigners?

Non-Resident Nepalis (NRNs) earning Nepal-source income — rental from Nepal property, interest from Nepal bank deposits, dividends from Nepal companies, freelance income credited to a Nepal account — require a Nepal PAN to ensure correct withholding and to file any annual return where the Nepal-source income is non-final. The NRN registration process mirrors the individual route, with the NRN identity card (issued under the Non-Resident Nepali Act 2064) or a passport with NRN status documentation in place of citizenship. The address-proof document is the NRN's Nepal address (where one is maintained) or the address of the Nepal-resident representative authorised to receive IRD correspondence.

Foreign nationals doing business in Nepal under FITTA approval or working under appropriate work visas require a PAN for any income drawn from Nepal sources. The document set substitutes the citizenship with the foreign passport, the visa (work, business, or investor as appropriate), and the FITTA approval or sector-regulator licence. Foreign entities operating in Nepal through a branch or project office receive a business PAN for the Nepal branch, with the proprietor / director documentation being the foreign-incorporated parent's representatives. The biometric step at IRD is required in the same manner as for resident applicants.

How do I update or correct PAN details?

PAN details can be updated through the same taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np interface. Common updates include change of address, change of business name (post-amendment of MOA), addition or removal of authorised signatories, change of business activity (sector reclassification), addition of branches, and conversion of a sole proprietorship to a partnership or partnership to a company. The taxpayer logs in with the PAN credentials, navigates to the amendment module, submits the change request with supporting documentation (the legal instrument effecting the change — board resolution, partnership amendment deed, OCR re-registration certificate), and submits. The IRD reviews and approves; the updated PAN certificate is issued or, more commonly, the existing PAN number is retained with the database updated.

The PAN number itself never changes — even on substantial restructuring of a business, the same PAN persists. A company that converts from private to public retains its PAN; a partnership that incorporates as a company should generally retain the PAN through OCR coordination, though in some cases a new business PAN is issued and the old PAN is closed. The IRD office handling the registration provides guidance on the precise procedure for each restructuring scenario. On dissolution of a business, the PAN is surrendered through a closure application accompanied by the final tax clearance and the dissolution order.

What are the most common PAN registration failures?

From practitioner experience, the recurring failures are: citizenship-scan illegibility — a low-resolution scan or a poorly-lit photograph of the citizenship is the single most common rejection reason, fixable with a clean re-scan; address-mismatch between the registration form and the supporting document — typically a current address on the form against a permanent-address utility bill; OTP-failure for applicants with foreign mobile numbers or roaming-disabled SIMs; missing biometric appearance at the IRD office, leaving the draft PAN un-activated and unusable; business-document inconsistencies — MOA name slightly different from registration certificate, director list out of date, address discrepancy between MOA and registered office; and foreign-applicant visa expiry in the period between online submission and IRD office attendance.

Less common but consequential failures are: operating without registering for the period between business commencement and PAN issuance — better resolved by registering before commencement; using a personal PAN for business transactions where a separate business PAN is required, causing income aggregation errors at assessment; and not updating PAN details after a business restructuring, leading to MOA-vs-IRD database mismatch flagged at the next return cycle. Each is preventable with disciplined documentation and timely updates.

How does Alpine Law Associates handle PAN registration in Nepal?

Alpine Law Associates handles PAN registration for individuals, NRNs, foreign nationals, and businesses across the full life cycle. For straightforward individual and business cases we prepare the document set, submit the online registration, manage the IRD-office attendance, and deliver the PAN certificate; for complex cases — foreign promoter participation, sector-regulator coordination, restructuring-driven re-registration, FITTA-linked entities, NRN cross-border source-income mapping — we coordinate the additional approvals in parallel and align the PAN with the broader tax position. For taxpayers operating without a PAN seeking to regularise, we file the voluntary registration with the historical disclosure and the penalty-waiver application under Section 117 bona-fide grounds. For businesses restructuring (sole proprietorship to partnership, partnership to company, public to private conversion) we handle the PAN-continuity coordination with IRD to preserve the existing PAN where the law permits. Speak with our tax lawyers today →