Kathmandu, February 6, 2020: The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has issued a total of 3.17 million PAN cards across the country as of mid-January. Data of the IRD shows that it added more than 800,000 taxpayers in the first six months of the current fiscal year. At the end of FY2018/19, IRD had issued 21.7 million such cards. According to IRD officials, application for PAN can be lodged online.
The Director General of IRD, Mr. Binod Bahadur Kunwar said that the tax offices across the country are busy issuing PAC cards after the government made such cards mandatory for all salaried workers from mid-July 2019.
According to the department, it issued 813,978 PAN cards over the first six months of the current fiscal year. 1.32 million are business PAN (BPAN) and 1.84 million are personal PAN (PPAN) cards, out of all PAN card issued.
The government has made PAN mandatory for employees or workers earning any amount in the form of salary, wage, leave pay, commission, prize, bonus, or other facilities from any organization from the current fiscal year. According to the new provision, all employers are required to record tax deducted at source (TDS) in the respective accounts of their staffers from mid-July. To record the TDS the employees must have PAN.
Individuals earning up to Rs. 400,000 annually should pay 1% income tax and extra 10% for additional Rs. 100,000. Similarly, married couples earning Rs. 450,000 or less can jointly pay 1% and 10% for extra Rs. 100,000.
The government had also introduced ‘One Person, One PAN’ policy for FY 2019/20. As per the policy, the IRD has been providing its services through 59 field offices – 38 Inland Revenue Offices, 19 Taxpayer Service Office, one Medium Level Tax Office, and one Large Taxpayer Office.
Meanwhile, the number of taxpayers registering for value added tax (VAT) has reached 246,611 as of mid-January. Of the total VAT taxpayers, 34,142 got associated with VAT in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
Source: The Republica
