Corporate tax higher in Nepal

Despite the economic jitters brought about by the continuing political turmoil, leading Nepali corporate houses posted a handsome double-digit growth--in paying taxes to the government over the past year.
In fact, of the total income tax of 14.61 billion rupees (US$205.54 million) that the government collected in 2006/07, one-third came from just 10 corporate taxpayers, figures of the Ministry of Finance show. The government, in the fiscal year 2005/06, had collected 10.93 billion rupees ($153.77 million) in income tax.
“However, rather than being proud, the companies prefer not to disclose their contributions to the revenue and in transforming people's lives. They do so to avoid various extortion groups,” said an official.
The list of the top ten taxpayers gathered by The Kathmandu Post shows that Nepal Telecom (NT), the state-owned telecommunication service provider, is the largest taxpayer of the country.
The company, through the services it provides to about a million mobile users and half a million landline holders, paid 2.38 billion rupees ($33.48 million) in income tax and generated an additional 2.42 billion rupees ($34.04 million) as value added tax (VAT) during the last fiscal year.