How to Register for a PAN in Nepal

What a PAN is and who needs one

A Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a unique registration number the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) assigns to a taxpayer — an individual or a business — and it's the identifier every tax record, invoice, and official financial filing in Nepal gets tied to. You need one if you're a salaried employee whose employer must report your income, a business owner or freelancer issuing invoices, a landlord renting out property formally, or anyone required to file an income-tax return. A single PAN belongs to one taxpayer for life; it isn't renewed or reissued each year.

Personal PAN vs. Business PAN

IRD's registration system separates a Personal PAN (for an individual, tied to your citizenship details) from a Business PAN (for a registered company, partnership, or sole proprietorship, tied to your business registration certificate). Choosing the wrong one at the start creates a mismatch that's more work to fix later than it would have been to select correctly the first time — if you're registering as a freelancer under your own name rather than a formally registered business, a Personal PAN is usually the right starting point.

The registration process, step by step

Registration is designed to be completed mostly online:

1. Start at IRD's Taxpayer Portal (taxpayerportal.ird.gov.np) or the government's Nagarik App.
2. Choose Personal or Business registration.
3. Verify your mobile number by OTP.
4. Fill in the application form and upload the required documents.
5. Complete a short biometric verification (photo and fingerprint) in person at your local Inland Revenue Office.

The online steps get your application ready, but it isn't complete until that in-person visit.

What you'll typically need

• Personal PAN: citizenship certificate, a passport-size photo, and your mobile number for OTP verification.
• Business PAN: everything above, plus your business registration certificate and, depending on the business type, partnership or company registration documents.

Have scanned or clearly photographed copies ready before you start the online form — a rejected upload because a document is blurry or cropped wrong is one of the most common reasons an application stalls partway through.

Cost, timing, and what happens after

IRD does not charge a fee for PAN registration, for either Personal or Business applications. Once your online application and biometric visit are both done, a straightforward application is typically processed within a few working days — but exact turnaround varies by tax office and season, so treat any specific day-count you read elsewhere as a rough guide rather than a guarantee, and check directly with your local IRD office if you're on a deadline (for instance, filing a return that requires a PAN).

Common mistakes

• Name or date-of-birth mismatch between the PAN application and your citizenship certificate — even a small spelling difference can hold up verification.
• Skipping or delaying the in-person biometric step — the online form alone doesn't create a usable PAN.
• Registering a Business PAN too early, before your business registration certificate is actually finalized — it's usually worth waiting until that's in hand rather than correcting it later.