How to Get an Advance Tax Payment Certificate in Nepal

If you've paid advance income tax during the fiscal year — as most businesses and many individual taxpayers in Nepal are required to — you'll eventually need proof that a specific instalment actually went through. This guide explains why you might need that proof, exactly how to pull it from the IRD Taxpayer Portal, and how it's genuinely different from the annual Tax Clearance Certificate people often confuse it with.

Why You Might Need Proof of Advance Tax Paid

Under Section 94 of the Income Tax Act, 2058, a taxpayer whose estimated tax liability for the fiscal year exceeds NPR 7,500 is generally required to pay tax in advance, in instalments through the year, rather than as one lump sum at year-end. Once you've made one or more of these instalment payments, proof of that specific payment becomes useful — and sometimes essential — in several situations:

• Reconciling your annual return — advance tax paid during the year is credited against your final annual liability, and you need the payment record to support that credit if the IRD's system doesn't automatically match it.
• Responding to an assessment or query — if IRD raises a query suggesting a payment wasn't made or wasn't recorded, your own saved receipt is your first line of evidence.
• Loan or visa documentation — some lenders or embassies ask for evidence of tax payments made during the year, not just an annual clearance statement.
• Your own accounting records — especially for a business, keeping a clean paper trail of every instalment paid makes year-end reconciliation with your CA far faster.

How to Download/Request It from the Portal

There isn't a separately named "advance tax certificate" as a distinct IRD product — what you're actually retrieving is the payment receipt or voucher tied to that specific instalment, carrying its own Payment Reference Number (PRN), which the IRD Taxpayer Portal keeps on record against your PAN. Here's how to get it:

• Log in to the IRD Taxpayer Portal using your PAN and password.
• Open your payment history or ledger section — this is where every payment made against your PAN is recorded, including advance tax instalments.
• Filter by fiscal year and tax type, selecting income tax / advance tax (instalment) for the specific year and period you need.
• Locate the specific payment by date or PRN, and open the payment detail.
• Download or print the receipt — this document, showing the PRN, amount, date, and revenue head, is your proof of that specific advance tax payment.

If you paid at a bank counter rather than online, the bank-stamped voucher you received at the time of payment serves the same purpose — keep the original, and note that the same payment should still show up in your portal ledger since bank counter payments are recorded against your PRN as well.

Keeping Your Own Records — Don't Rely on the Portal Alone

It's good practice to download and save each advance tax receipt as soon as you make the payment, rather than assuming you can always retrieve it later. Keep a simple folder (digital or physical) organised by fiscal year, with each instalment's receipt saved alongside your return filing documents. This becomes especially valuable if you ever need to demonstrate a payment history spanning several years — for a loan application, a visa process, or simply your own year-end reconciliation with your accountant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Is this different from the annual tax clearance certificate?

Yes, and the distinction matters. Proof of an advance tax payment confirms that one specific instalment was paid on a specific date — it says nothing about whether your full-year return has been filed or whether any other dues remain outstanding. A Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC), by contrast, is a broader compliance statement confirming that all required returns have been filed and all dues are settled as of a given date. You can hold proof of an advance tax payment without yet qualifying for a TCC — for instance, if your annual return for that year hasn't been filed yet — and the two documents serve genuinely different purposes.

Q2. Can I get proof of advance tax paid in a previous fiscal year?

Generally yes — the IRD Taxpayer Portal retains payment history across fiscal years, so you can filter back to a previous year and retrieve the relevant receipt, provided the payment was made through the standard channels and properly recorded against your PAN.

Q3. What if my advance tax payment doesn't show up in the portal?

First check that you selected the correct fiscal year and payment category, since instalments are often filed under specific revenue codes. If it genuinely isn't showing after payment, keep your original bank receipt or connectIPS confirmation and raise the discrepancy with your IRD office — don't assume the payment is lost simply because the portal hasn't reflected it yet.

Advance tax proof is one of those small documents that rarely matters until the exact moment you need it urgently — reconciling a return, answering an IRD query, or supporting a loan file. Download each instalment receipt as you pay it, keep it organised by fiscal year, and you'll never be scrambling through the portal at the last minute.