Nepal Withholding tax rates
Nepal Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The taxes Nepal withholds on payments of investment returns and service charges under sections 88 and 89 of the Income Tax Act 2058 (2002) - 15% on interest, natural resource payments, rent, royalties and service charges, 5% on dividends (final), and 5% on contract payments to non-residents - each at its domestic statutory rate before any tax-treaty relief. The section 88 rates apply to payments with a Nepalese source whether the recipient is resident or non-resident. Administered by the Inland Revenue Department (ird.gov.np).
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Income Tax Act 2058 (2002), s.88(1): in making payment 'for interest, natural resource, rent, royalty, service charge' having source in Nepal 'the person shall withhold tax at the rate of fifteen percent of the total amount of payment'; s.88(2)(a): 'In a dividend payment, at the rate of 5% of amount' (final under s.92); s.89(3): contract payments to non-residents 5% |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | secondary — Corroborated, but the primary instrument was NOT read (usually the publishing host blocks automated access). Rates rest on English translations of the Act (actnepal.com, nepallaws.com) and practitioner compilations rather than a directly quoted official IRD text. The translations themselves diverge on the dividend rate: an older rendering of s.88(2) says 'ten percent', while current compilations quote the amended text at 5% - the 5% is corroborated by every current Nepali practitioner source and IRD TDS guidance and is served here. Treat as secondary until the official Nepali text (with Finance Act updates) is quoted with translation. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Nepal applies 15% to interest, royalties and service fees but 5% to dividends (and 5% to non-resident contract payments); a caller wanting a number must name which payment type and read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A double-tax agreement can reduce them; Nepal has a modest treaty network (India, China and others). We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. SCOPE CAVEATS: (1) the s.88 rates are not non-resident-specific - they apply to Nepal-source payments generally; what makes them the non-resident story is s.92, under which withholding from payments to non-residents is generally FINAL. (2) Concessional withholdings exist that are NOT served as the non-resident rates: 6% on retirement-fund payouts, 6% on bank deposit interest paid to natural persons for non-business deposits (s.88(3)), and 1.5% on service fees paid to resident VAT-registered persons - the 1.5% never applies to non-residents. (3) NO effective_from is asserted: the current percentages reflect the Act as amended by successive Finance Acts and no single commencement date is verifiable from the sources used.
Get it programmatically
curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/np/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/np/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/np/withholding-taxOther Nepal series: NRB policy rate (fixed repo rate) · VAT standard rate · VAT registration threshold · National minimum remuneration · Public holidays · Consumer price inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax standard rate · Statutory late-payment interest · Personal income tax bands · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · all 28