Nepal — TDS / Withholding Tax
ALWAYS read this skill before touching any Nepal TDS / withholding tax work. Use whenever asked to compute or deduct Nepal withholding tax (TDS) on rent, interest, dividends, service/contract payments, or payments to non-residents under the Income Tax Act 2058.
Key facts — Nepal, 2025
| Payment type | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rent (paid by a resident person) | 10% | |
| Dividend (paid by resident company / partnership) | 5% | Same to resident AND non-resident |
| Interest (Nepal source, from resident banks / FIs / cooperatives / debenture issuers / listed companies) | 6% to a natural person (not in business); 15% to entities | |
| Contract / agreement payment to a non-resident | 5% | |
| Contract payments exceeding NPR 50,000 | 1.5% | Resident contract/supply payments |
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ALWAYS read this skill before touching any Nepal TDS / withholding tax work. Use whenever asked to compute or deduct Nepal withholding tax (TDS) on rent, interest, dividends, service/contract payments, or payments to non-residents under the Income Tax Act 2058. Trigger on phrases like "Nepal TDS", "Nepal withholding", "TDS rates Nepal", "Section 88 Nepal", "rent TDS Nepal 10%", "dividend TDS Nepal 5%", "interest TDS Nepal 6%", "contract TDS Nepal 1.5%", or "FY 2082/83 TDS". Out of scope — personal income tax computation (separate skill), corporate tax (separate skill), payroll/SSF salary TDS (use the payroll skill), and VAT.
The full rule
Nepal — TDS / Withholding Tax — Skill v1.0
Produced by OpenAccountants (openaccountants.com). Research-grade (tier 2) for FY 2082/83. Source provenance: figures derive from Nepali professional-firm publications (PKF T.R. Upadhya, Union Nepal) reflecting the Income Tax Act 2058 §87–§88 and Finance Act 2082 — not re-anchored to primary IRD pages. A Nepali CA must confirm against the statute before reliance. Not tax advice.
Section 1 — Quick reference (rates, FY 2082/83 — "no change" from FY 2024-25)
| Payment type | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rent (paid by a resident person) | 10% | |
| Dividend (paid by resident company / partnership) | 5% | Same to resident AND non-resident |
| Interest (Nepal source, from resident banks / FIs / cooperatives / debenture issuers / listed companies) | 6% to a natural person (not in business); 15% to entities | |
| Contract / agreement payment to a non-resident | 5% | |
| Contract payments exceeding NPR 50,000 | 1.5% | Resident contract/supply payments |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Country / authority | Nepal — Inland Revenue Department (IRD), ird.gov.np |
| Statute | Income Tax Act 2058 (2002) §87–§88, as amended by Finance Act 2082 |
| Income year | Shrawan 1 – Ashad end (BS); FY 2082/83 |
| Validated by | Pending — Nepali CA / registered tax practitioner |
| Skill version | 1.0 |
Refuted / do NOT use: a flat 15% Section 88 TDS on interest/rent/service, and a 10% dividend TDS — both appear in some secondary commentary but were adversarially refuted; the effective FY 2082/83 rates above govern.
Conservative defaults
| Ambiguity | Default |
|---|---|
| Recipient natural person vs entity (interest) | Treat as entity (15%) and flag |
| Resident vs non-resident recipient | Flag; non-resident service/royalty/technical fees beyond the 5% contract rate are VERIFY |
| Contract payment near NPR 50,000 threshold | Apply 1.5% if it exceeds 50,000 |
Section 2 — Refusal catalogue
R-NP-TDS-1 — Salary TDS. Employment withholding sequences with SSF — use nepal-payroll.
R-NP-TDS-2 — Non-resident service/royalty/technical fees + DTAA. Beyond the 5% non-resident contract rate, the full non-resident Section 88 schedule and treaty overrides were NOT established — VERIFY; escalate.
R-NP-TDS-3 — Full Section 88 schedule. Many payment categories exist beyond those listed; this skill covers the common ones. Confirm the full §88 table for FY 2082/83.
Section 3 — Tier 1 rules
3.1 Rent — 10%
TDS of 10% on rent paid by a resident person.
3.2 Dividend — 5%
TDS of 5% on dividends paid by a resident company/partnership — to both resident and non-resident recipients.
3.3 Interest — 6% / 15%
On Nepal-source interest paid by resident banks, financial institutions, cooperatives, debenture issuers, or listed companies:
- 6% to a natural person who is not deriving the interest in the course of business;
- 15% to entities.
3.4 Contracts
- Payment under a contract/agreement to a non-resident: 5%.
- Resident contract/supply payments exceeding NPR 50,000: 1.5%.
Source: PKF Trunco "Tax Rates 2082-83" §7.1 (each marked "No change"); Union Nepal TDS guide.
Section 4 — Worked examples
- Rent NPR 200,000 to a resident landlord → TDS = 10% × 200,000 = NPR 20,000.
- Bank interest NPR 100,000 to an individual (not in business) → TDS = 6% × 100,000 = NPR 6,000.
- Dividend NPR 500,000 → TDS = 5% × 500,000 = NPR 25,000.
- Resident supply contract NPR 300,000 → TDS = 1.5% × 300,000 = NPR 4,500.
Section 5 — Filing
TDS is deducted at payment and deposited to the IRD with a credit certificate to the payee. Deposit/return due dates — VERIFY against the IRD calendar (not established by the research).
Section 6 — Sources
Research-grade, FY 2082/83. Secondary firm publications — re-anchor to primary IRD/statute (§87–§88):
- PKF T.R. Upadhya & Co. "Tax Rates 2082-83" §7.1 — https://pkf.trunco.com.np/files/publications/1748841198_Tax%20Rates%202082-83_Final_250601_213028.pdf
- Union Nepal — TDS in Nepal — https://unionnepal.com/tds-in-nepal
- Income Tax Act 2058 (2002) §88 — confirm at https://ird.gov.np
Known gaps / VERIFY: full §88 schedule; non-resident service/royalty/technical-fee rates + DTAA; deposit/return due dates.
Prohibitions
- NEVER use the refuted flat 15% (interest/rent/service) or 10% dividend rates — use the rates in §1.
- NEVER apply the 6% interest rate to an entity recipient — entities are 15%.
- NEVER assert non-resident service/royalty/technical-fee TDS this skill flags as VERIFY.
- NEVER present these as primary-IRD-confirmed — flag for verifier re-anchoring.
- NEVER file or instruct filing — working paper for practitioner review only.
Disclaimer
For informational and computational purposes only; not tax, legal, or financial advice. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified Nepali professional (CA / registered tax practitioner) before filing or acting upon. Latest verified version at openaccountants.com.
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