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The government is planning to bring the service sector within the purview of Value Added Tax (VAT). It intends to expand the tax net from the upcoming fiscal year. Shishir Kumar Dhungana, a Secretary at the Finance Ministry, said that the new measure is being introduced because turnover taxa­tion (TOT) did not produce expected results in the last three years. The ministry has concluded that TOT has resulted not only in low tax collection but also in tax evasion. The threshold for VAT registration was raised with the expectation that TOT would function properly, but that expectation wasn’t met. (Earlier, businesses with annual transactions worth Rs 2 million and more had to be registered for VAT, but that threshold was recently increased to Rs 5 million.)

“Similar to the Goods and Ser­vice Tax (GST) levied in India, VAT will incorporate all goods and ser­vice transactions in Nepal. There is no alternative to this measure also because VAT’s contribution to reve­nue has been going up,” said Dhun­gana. VAT worth Rs 143 billion was collected in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. This is 28.2 percent more than the amount collected in the same period in the last fiscal. Authorities suspected tax evasion when VAT collection in the first six months of the current fiscal sank below target.

In the white paper issued on March 30 by Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada, he had stated raising VAT’s threshold to Rs 5 mil­lion had encouraged businesses to divide their units so as to dodge the threshold. Some thought his statement implied that a lower VAT threshold was in the cards. But in the budget he presented on May 29, it has been revealed that all service industries would be brought under the purview of VAT, irrespective of the scale of their transactions.

The Inland Revenue Department has issued an instruction to that effect. Among the industries that are going to be brought under the pur­view of VAT are catering, education consultancy, night and health clubs, massage therapy, boutique, etc.

The government had introduced VAT on 16 November 1997 with a view to include all indirect taxa­tion. The imposition of a 10 percent VAT had replaced taxation on sales, hotels, construction contracts and entertainment. The last two decades have seen the highest revenue col­lection through VAT, which con­tributes 27 percent of the national revenue. The number of taxpayers with VAT registration has gone up to around 200,000.

BY SHREEDHAR KHANAL | KATHMANDU

Information Security Response Team Nepal (NPCERT) is organizing the Global Cyber Security Summit (GCSS) 2018 in July 27-28, with the theme “Building Global Alliance for Cyber Resilience”. The summit is intended to empower professionals and organizations to build security resilience by bringing in contemporary issues of cybersecurity, mitigation strategies, and solutions with comprehensive Cybersecurity infrastructure.

GCSS 2018 will highlight the silos between business objectives and cyber security readiness in changing landscape of security threats. Some of the main objectives of the summit are to analyze roles of Cyberlaw, Cyber policy and Cyber security practices in today’s world, to identify the areas in Cybersecurity that needs to be further enhanced to meet the expectations and needs of businesses and to build a global alliance for cybersecurity resilience among others.

The GCSS also invites abstracts of presentations from cybersecurity experts, practitioners, and researchers. GCSS provides a platform to share knowledge and experience on new cybersecurity trends, technologies, practices, and innovations. For more information: http://npcert.org/callforpaper.html

The 3^rd edition of the wheelchair basketball competition in Nepal, the Turkish Airlines ENGAGE Empowering League, is set to start from June 2 at the Central Covered Hall, Dasarath Rangasala.

With seven days of games involving 134 players (94 male and 40 female) from five female and nine male teams, including, for the first time teams from outside the Valley (Chitwan, Pokhara, Nepalgunj), each team will play against each other once. The best two teams with the highest scores will play for 1^st place final and 3^rd and 4^th teams in terms of scoring will play for the 3^rd place.

The Turkish Airlines ENGAGE Empowering League, an initiative organized by ENGAGE, a local NGO, is going to be played under the banner “Fair Game for Nepal: Make Disability rights REAL,” directly advocating for the implementation of the new Disability Rights Act. The Act has the potential to be a real “game changer” in terms of new rights and provisions for persons with disabilities.

The League has an important role in raising awareness of disabilities and more in general on issues related to Gender, Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), contributing to a more just, inclusive development of the country, creating space for action and participation for persons with disabilities, one of the most vulnerable groups.

The League will also be about awareness programs at schools level targeting at least 900 school children and youths at basic and secondary levels. The League will also mobilize around 40 volunteers, all trained on social inclusion and disability rights, and different members of social clubs being supported by ENGAGE. This will help create links between youth with and without disabilities, towards more awareness and understanding on disabilities issues.

While advocating for the new Act, the League will promote not only the physical and mental wellbeing of persons with physical disabilities but also will contribute greatly to enhance the adaptive sports in Nepal.

With the National Youth Council as Co-Convener, Turkish Airlines as Title Sponsor and the strategic support of Governance Facility and Embassy of Switzerland to Nepal and a coalition of nonprofits and corporate houses, the League is a great example of partnerships among different stakeholders to promote social inclusion and disability rights.

The PATA annual summit 2018 hosted at Lakai Sandpine, Gangneung, Republic of Korea from May 17-20 2018 by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conferred Basant Raj Mishra, Executive Chairman of Temple Tiger Group of Companies with a Life Membership Award. The Association's highest honor, this award is presented to an individual affiliated to a PATA member organization who has devoted an exceptional service to the tourism industry in Pacific Asia Region. Mishra was also the first Nepali to be the Secretary and Treasurer of PATA.

The PATA Annual Summit brings together international thought leaders, industry shapers and senior decision-makers who are professionally engaged with the Asia Pacific region. The Summit embraces a global forum for enhancing the sustainable growth, value and quality of tourism. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organizations, comprising 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 29 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 63 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Since 1951 PATA has led from the front as the leading voice and authority on travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.