Kathmandu, 15 June: The Department of Revenue Investigation has filed a case against a courier company for evading taxes by conducting online transactions through a server based abroad. The case includes a claim of more than NPR 1.36 billion (approximately USD 10.3 million).
On Sunday, the department filed the case at the Patan High Court against “Nepal Can Move Pvt. Ltd.,” located in Tinkune, Kathmandu, along with six individuals, including its operators.
According to the department, the company operated business transactions in Nepal using an online portal — nepalcanmove.com — whose server was based in Australia, in an attempt to evade oversight by Nepal’s tax administration.
Investigations revealed that from fiscal year 2076/77 to Falgun of 2081/82 (roughly 2019 to early 2025), the company concealed actual sales revenue generated through the portal and underreported its business transactions to the Inland Revenue Department.
The statement issued by the department mentions that the company hosted its portal server in Australia and failed to report a large volume of service sales in the VAT income details submitted to the Inland Revenue Department. It further states that the company deliberately concealed sales revenue, thereby evading a substantial amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) and income tax.
During the investigation, the department concluded that the company concealed taxable transactions worth NPR 782,846,767, including Value Added Tax (VAT) and income tax. The total amount of tax evasion was determined to be NPR 684,405,760. According to the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act, 2052, the department has demanded full recovery of the evaded amount along with a 100% penalty—equivalent to NPR 684,405,760—bringing the total claim to NPR 1,368,811,520 (1.36 billion rupees).
The department has named the operating company of the portal, Nepal Can Group Pvt. Ltd., and its directors—Sudip Acharya, Jeevan Gyawali, Ganga Bahadur Thapa, Manish Prasad Acharya, Mithu Paudel, and the company’s Deputy Executive Director Sangam Paudel—as defendants in the case.
The department stated that the company’s main shareholders, Sudip Acharya and Jeevan Gyawali, have repeatedly ignored summons and are currently on the run. As for Sangam Paudel, the Deputy Executive Director, the department has demanded half the penalty, alleging that he assisted the main offenders and thus should be treated as an accomplice.
