Internal Revenue Department Urges Consumers to Participate in Taxpayer Incentive Gift Program

Kathmandu. The Inland Revenue Department has urged consumers to participate in the taxpayer incentive gift program. The department issued a notice on Saturday urging consumers who made cash transactions to register their original bills. According to the department's deputy director general, Janakraj Sharma, consumers who purchase goods or services worth more than Rs 100 in cash and obtain original PAN and VAT bills since July 17 are eligible to participate in the taxpayer incentive program. "We have launched a new website called prize.ird.gov.np from Saturday," said Deputy Director General Sharma. "Eligible consumers who purchase goods and services worth more than Rs 100 at a time within Nepal for self-use by paying in cash and have obtained an invoice can upload their bill on the website." The department has clarified that those whose transactions are included in the gift program through the QR payment system do not need to enter their bills at this time. According to the department, consumers who purchase goods and services worth more than Rs 100 through QR payment via bank and wallet do not need to register their bills at present. The transaction number will be eligible for the gift as the transaction made via QR will be downloaded and kept, and the same transaction number will be entered into the department's system for the gift. The department has drawn the attention of all consumers to keep the original bills safe as they will be mandatory after the gift is announced. The department has urged consumers to ask for original VAT and PAN bills for their purchases and to inform the department if they do not receive a bill. The department is preparing to release the results of the first 15 days of the taxpayer incentive program, which came into effect from July 17, next week. "Technically, we are ready. If there are no major technical problems, we will be in a position to announce the results of the first 15 days (15 winners at Rs 1 lakh each day and one bumper winner of Rs 10 lakh for 15 days) next week," the department said. In the budget for fiscal year 2024/25, Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle had announced the operation of a taxpayer incentive gift program to bring taxpayers into the tax system and develop a culture of taking bills. In accordance with that announcement, the ministry approved the gift operation procedure in the last week of June. According to the procedure, one consumer will be provided with Rs 1 lakh in cash after tax deduction every day, and a bumper prize of Rs 10 lakh in cash will be provided every 15-15 days (two people per month).