Topic hub · Foreign investment
Foreign investment in Nepal: approval, setup and repatriation
Foreign investment in Nepal runs through several gates: approval, registration, remittance and ongoing reporting. This hub gathers our practical guides for investors and our technical analysis of the rules behind them.
For investors planning an entry
Begin with the approval guide and the comparison of structures: a subsidiary, a branch or a liaison office each carries different obligations.
For advisers and finance teams
The technical pieces cover the legal basis, how approval differs from realisation, and the reporting that follows once money has moved.
Check the current text
Thresholds and procedures are revised by notice, so each article points you to the authority to confirm the current rule.
Guides for business owners
Plain language: what it means, what to do and what to prepare.
- For business owners · 6 Nov 2026Fitting Out a Rented Branch: Which Depreciation Class Applies? A Supreme Court AnswerA bank spent money fitting out premises it did not own and claimed depreciation over the lease. The tax office pushed the same assets into a different class and allowed a fraction of the claim. The Supreme Court sided with the bank, and the reasoning rests on the IRD's own directive. Here is what the decision says, what it does not say, and how a company with rented premises should keep its records.
- For business owners · 6 Oct 2026Investor Asked for Your Financials? What to Send in 48 HoursHow to respond to an investor's financial request within 48 hours: a defined pack of statements, management accounts, forecast, cap table and contracts, reconciled before it leaves your office.
- For business owners · 21 Sept 2026How Should Founder and Investor Equity Be Structured?How founder vesting, investor rights, and the dilution path across future funding rounds should be structured from the outset, and the specific equity mistakes that are cheap to avoid early and expensive to unwind later.
- For business owners · 30 Aug 2026Before Opening a New Branch: 10 Financial Questions to AnswerA structured financial checklist for evaluating a new branch, location, or outlet before signing a lease, covering payback period, cannibalisation, working capital, and the funding decision, so the expansion is tested on numbers rather than optimism.
- For business owners · 27 Aug 2026Should You Take a Bank Loan or Bring in an Investor?How to decide between debt and equity financing for a specific growth need, based on the nature of the cash flow being financed, the true cost of each option, and the control consequences that a simple interest-rate comparison misses entirely.
- For business owners · 24 Aug 2026Before Bringing in an Investor: What Should Founders Know?The specific financial, ownership and control questions founders need answered before a term sheet arrives, why the terms often matter more than the headline valuation, and how to prepare so the negotiation happens on informed footing.
- For business owners · 13 Aug 2026Business Visa for Foreign Investors in Nepal: Who Qualifies and How to ApplyThe visa options for foreign investors in Nepal, who qualifies for a business visa, the Department of Industry recommendation, and the documents the Department of Immigration asks for.
- For business owners · 9 Aug 2026Registering an IT or BPO Company in Nepal Through Foreign Direct InvestmentIT and BPO are exempt from Nepal's NPR 20 million minimum FDI. What qualifies, the seven registration steps, and the classification trap to avoid.
- For business owners · 7 Aug 2026Foreign Direct Investment Approval Process in Nepal: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide (2026)How FDI approval works in Nepal in 2026: DOI or IBN approval, the NPR 20 million minimum, the 8-step sequence, the two to four week timeline and the NRB step investors forget.
- For business owners · 14 Jul 2026FDI in Nepal: A Practical Guide for Foreign InvestorsThe complete sequence a foreign investor actually follows to invest in a Nepalese company, from Department of Industry approval through registration to repatriation, and the points in the process where investors most often lose time.
- For business owners · 8 Jul 2026Doing Business in Nepal: A 2025 Guide for Foreign InvestorsA comprehensive overview of Nepal's investment climate, company formation process, tax structure, regulatory framework, and market entry options, everything an international investor needs before committing capital.
Technical analysis for professionals
Section-level analysis, procedures and edge cases.
- For professionals · 5 Nov 2026The Nepal–India Tax Treaty and Nepal's Other Double Tax Agreements: Withholding Rates and How to ClaimA double tax agreement can reduce the tax withheld on dividends, interest and royalties paid across the border. Relief is not automatic: you must show residence, beneficial ownership and the right treaty article.
- For professionals · 3 Nov 2026Repatriating Dividends and Capital from Nepal: The Steps for Foreign InvestorsFITTA 2075 gives foreign investors the right to repatriate dividends, sale proceeds and loan repayments. In practice, the money moves only when the file is complete: approvals, tax and the banking trail.
- For professionals · 2 Nov 2026Borrowing from Abroad: Foreign Loans into a Nepali Company and the NRB ApprovalA Nepali company can borrow from a foreign shareholder or lender, but the loan needs approval, a banking trail and a repayment route. The approval sets what you can later send back out.
- For professionals · 11 Oct 2026IT Exporters in Nepal: Foreign-Currency Earnings, Tax Incentives and ReportingSoftware and IT service exporters in Nepal earn in dollars and spend in rupees. How to handle foreign-currency receipts, NRB facilities, VAT and tax incentives, and reporting.
- For professionals · 7 Oct 2026TDS on Payments to Foreign Vendors in Nepal: What to Withhold and WhenWhen a Nepali business pays an overseas consultant, software provider or licensor, the payer may have to withhold tax before the money leaves the country. This guide explains the withholding rule under Section 88 of the Income Tax Act, 2058, the checks to run before each payment, and the mistakes that turn a routine invoice into a tax demand.
- For professionals · 3 Oct 2026Section 57 and Nepal's Deal Climate: When Anti-Abuse Tax Law Meets Investment PolicySection 57 of the Income Tax Act stops companies trading in tax losses, but it also reaches genuine investment. A policy reading of what the rule is for, where its design strains, what the Ncell dispute and recent court and circular developments show, and how it could be reformed.
- For professionals · 15 Sept 2026FDI Approval Is Not the Same as FDI RealizationNepal has approved NPR 577 billion in foreign investment since 1995/96, but only NPR 170.9 billion, under a third, has ever actually arrived. What the approval-realization gap actually is, why it persists, and what it means for anyone reading Nepal's FDI numbers at face value.
- For professionals · 29 Jul 2026Branch and Liaison Office Registration for Foreign Companies in NepalBranch or liaison office in Nepal? What each may legally do, the 6-step OCR registration route, documents, tax and annual filings, before you choose.
- For professionals · 4 Jul 2026Foreign Investment Act Amendments 2081 (2024): What Investors Need to KnowThe 2081 amendments to the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act: who now approves large investments, foreign loans without a ministry recommendation, contract manufacturing, technology transfer abroad, and the related startup rules.
How we can help
- Business setup and foreign investmentRegistration, approval and first-year compliance
- Company registrationRegistering a company in Nepal
- FDI supportFrom approval to remittance
Tools and references
- Company FAQRegistering and running a company
- Compare your optionsStructures side by side