The government has started preparation for the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2026/27 that begins in mid-July.
The Revenue Advisory Committee, formed by the Ministry of Finance to collect recommendations on revenue policy, tax structure, customs rates, revenue administration and broader macroeconomic reforms, on Monday called on stakeholders to provide comprehensive suggestions on tax rates and revenue policies for the next budget.
According to a finance ministry, the committee will collect suggestions from different stakeholders, compile them, analyze them and submit its recommendation to the ministry by mid-May.
The government is constitutionally bound to present a budget for the next fiscal year on May 28.
The committee, chaired by Revenue Secretary Bhupal Baral, has sought suggestions from government agencies, private-sector umbrella organizations, academia and the general public. Stakeholders can submit their recommendations through the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the Inland Revenue Department, the Department of Customs, the Revenue Investigation Department, and the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, and their subsidiary offices, among others.
The committee has been mandated to recommend policy and legal reforms related to income tax, value-added tax (VAT), excise duty, the education service fee, digital service tax, taxes on e-commerce, and other internal taxes governed by the Finance Act. It has also been tasked with reviewing tax rates, simplifying procedures, broadening the tax base, improving the overall tax system, and proposing reforms in revenue administration and organizational structure.
Beyond internal taxation, the committee’s scope includes industrial promotion and protection, import and export policy, trade in services, investment promotion, supply management, and tax and non-tax incentives. It will also review customs rates and measures to protect domestic production, improve valuation systems, facilitate trade, strengthen border management, and reform customs administration.
Controlling revenue leakage and curbing smuggling are the other key focus areas of the committee. The committee will study trends in illicit trade, foreign exchange regulation, financial crimes, and asset laundering and recommend legal and institutional reforms where necessary. Revenue and policy reforms in agriculture, energy, tourism, civil aviation, and natural resource management have also been incorporated into its assessment.
The panel will also study issues in banking and financial institutions, insurance, remittance flows, capital markets, cooperatives and real estate transactions, particularly in relation to revenue mobilization and regulatory gaps. It has been authorized to identify new non-tax revenue sources, review and rationalize rates, address tax duplication among federal, provincial and local governments, and suggest improvements in intergovernmental revenue management and revenue sharing.
To make its sectoral analysis more effective, the committee has formed nine thematic subcommittees—Internal Revenue; Revenue Leakage and Investigation; Customs; Industry, Commerce, Investment and Export Promotion; Agriculture, Energy and Tourism; Bank, Financial Institutions, Insurance Cooperative and Capital Market, Non-Tax and Inter-Government Revenue Management; Overall Economic; and Asset Laundering Prevention and Investigation.
Members of the committee include an Executive Director from Nepal Rastra Bank, a joint secretary from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, and two experts—an economist and a tax specialist—nominated by the Finance Ministry.
Similarly, academia is represented by the chief or a designated senior professor from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, while private-sector participation includes the presidents or designated senior officials of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Nepal Economic Association, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Nepalese Industries and Commerce, and the Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries. A joint secretary from the ministry’s Revenue Management Division is the member secretary of the committee
