Kathmandu, August 6

Inland Revenue Division (IRD) has announced its plans to reduce the number of non-filers of income tax and value added tax (VAT) to 15 per cent this fiscal. Last fiscal, non-filers of income tax stood at 38 per cent, while that in VAT was 30 per cent. However, the target set for the tax offices of Kathmandu-1, -2 and -3 will be even lower as the number of non-filers is already quite small there.

Issuing a declaration after concluding a three-day ‘Management Seminar’ here today, the IRD has set the target to reduce the number of non-fliers by strengthening the capacity of tax offices.

A total of 840,018 business firms have been registered under the Permanent Account Number (PAN), 164,024 are registered in VAT, and 42,495 are registered in excise.

IRD also plans to settle at least 75 per cent of total arrears this fiscal. IRD had arrears of Rs 1.69 billion as of fiscal 2014-15, as per Chudamani Sharma, director general of IRD.

The declaration has envisioned optimum utilisation of IT-based system in filing and tax payment, which means e-payment systems will be encouraged. The IRD is also on the cusp of launching ‘PAN for All’ programme in all government offices, which will facilitate the department to implement electronic system for tax deduction at source (E-TDS).

IRD will implement electronic billing system in departmental stores, shopping malls from this fiscal. IRD collects inland taxes in the country, which contributes a large chunk in the total revenue collection target. While the government has set a target to collect Rs 566.9 billion in revenue this fiscal, IRD is expected to contribute Rs 233.6 billion.