PAN card in Nepal: how to get one online, and how to check a PAN

PAN is the Permanent Account Number (स्थायी लेखा नम्बर): nine digits, one per person, for life. It does not expire and is never renewed, and a second job, a business or an investment does not get you a second one — IRD's own booklet puts it as "one person, one PAN".

You need one if you earn taxable income from employment, a profession, a business or an investment. A personal PAN (PPAN) is for an individual — an employee, a freelancer. A business PAN is for a firm or company, and is applied for at the office in person.

1. 1Open IRD's taxpayer portal (from ird.gov.np, "Taxpayer Portal") and choose Registration (PAN, VAT, EXCISE) → Application For PPAN Registration.
2. 2Enter your mobile number. If you have a National ID, use the number registered with it — the portal's own words are "enter the mobile number registered in the NID system to get your PAN". Type the captcha and the OTP that arrives.
3. 3Say whether you have a National ID, and choose the IRD office most convenient to you.
4. 4Fill the form: personal details, address, family members, your document, and your income. A bank account is optional. With a National ID, the portal fills your name, date of birth, address and photo from the National ID record and locks them.
5. 5Tick the self-declaration and submit. Check first — the application cannot be changed after it is submitted.

If you do not have a National ID yet, it is worth getting for this and more — the passport form now asks for it too. See National ID card in Nepal.

• With a National ID: the portal creates the PAN straight away, sends it to your mobile and email, and shows a Print PAN Card button. That is the whole process.
• Without one: you get a registration number and are told to contact the office you chose. IRD's 2024 booklet says no office visit is needed for a personal PAN: the PAN arrives by mobile and email once the office has checked the application, and the paper certificate can be collected there with a copy of your citizenship.

A phone photo of a citizenship card is often too large to upload. The photo resizer brings it under the limit, on your own phone.

• A Nepali citizen: a copy of your citizenship certificate and one passport-size photo. Scan every side of the document into a single JPG for the upload.
• A minor: the guardian needs a PAN first; the child's application is tied to it.
• An Indian citizen working in Nepal: a government identity document and a letter from the employer.
• Other foreign nationals: a passport (or diplomatic ID), the labour permit and a letter from the employer.

A personal PAN costs nothing: the portal has no payment step, and the citizen charter of IRD's Thamel office (2020) listed PPAN registration as free and about an hour's work. With a National ID it is immediate. Without one, it takes as long as the office takes to check the application — IRD publishes no fixed number of days.

IRD's public PAN search is on ird.gov.np. It takes one thing — the PAN number — and a captcha. It returns the name in English and Nepali, the address and ward, the IRD office, the date of registration, the type and status of the account, and whether the taxpayer has a tax clearance.

It does not search by name, whatever some pages say. If you have lost your own number, look at the card or the SMS and email IRD sent when it was issued, or ask the office that registered you, with your citizenship.

The card the portal prints carries seven things — check each against your citizenship before you use it anywhere:

• the PAN, nine digits
• your name
• your address
• your father's or mother's name
• your date of birth
• the number of your identity document
• the date, and the IRD office where it was registered

IRD's registration booklet asks you to tell the IRD office within 15 days when your registered details change — a new address, a new name. IRD publishes one form for registration and amendment. A personal PAN is turned into a business PAN at the office, if you start trading.

Losing the card does not lose the number: it is the same PAN for life. If you applied with a National ID, the portal prints the card; otherwise ask the office that issued it for a copy. We could not find an official fee for a copy.

Your employer deducts your income tax from your salary every month — work out how much with the salary tax calculator or the salary calculator. The 11% on your payslip is the Social Security Fund. And when an embassy asks your parent or sponsor for proof of tax paid, that is the tax clearance certificate, which needs a PAN too.