What is the capital gains tax rate on NEPSE shares?

For individual investors, Nepal capital gains tax is 7.5% on short-term gains (shares held 365 days or fewer) and 5% on long-term gains (shares held more than 365 days). The tax is charged only on the realised gain, not on the full sale value.

How is the holding period counted for CGT in Nepal?

The holding period runs from the date you bought (or were allotted) the shares to the date you sell them. The boundary is strict: exactly 365 days held is still short-term, so 7.5% applies. To qualify for long-term 5%, you must hold for at least 366 days.

Do I pay CGT if I sell at a loss?

No. Nepal CGT is charged only on a realised gain. If your sale proceeds (net of broker commission and SEBON fees) are less than your cost basis, there is no tax. The loss does not offset other gains in the current Nepali individual-investor framework.

What is FIFO cost basis and why does it matter?

FIFO (First In First Out) means when you sell part of a holding, the lots you bought earliest are treated as the ones sold first. This matters because earlier lots often have a lower cost basis (so a bigger gain, and they're more likely to be long-term). Nepal's CGT rules use FIFO, so partial sells against a multi-lot holding get the long-term rate on the oldest shares first.

Who deducts the CGT — me or the broker?

The broker. CGT on share sales in Nepal is deducted at source by your broker on the trade contract, and the net (post-CGT, post-fees) amount is what hits your CM Account. You don't separately file CGT on share trades — the broker reconciles with Inland Revenue.

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Taxes & fees

How to calculate capital gains tax on NEPSE shares.

Nepal capital gains tax on shares for an individual investor is 5% if you've held for more than 365 days, 7.5% otherwise. Sounds simple — but the cost basis math and broker fees matter. Here's the full picture, with a worked example.

6 min read · Updated · 11 May 2026

The two CGT bands

For an individual Nepali investor (this guide does not cover institutional rates):

Long-term gain (held more than 365 days) — taxed at 5%.
Short-term gain (held 365 days or fewer) — taxed at 7.5%.
Realised loss — no CGT. Losses don't currently offset other share gains.

The boundary is strict: exactly 365 days held is still short-term. To qualify for the long-term 5% rate, you need to hold for at least 366 days.

The cost basis: not just buy price × quantity

A common mistake is to treat cost basis as "quantity × buy price". In NEPSE that undercounts what you actually paid, because you also paid:

Broker commission — tiered by trade size, with a floor of NPR 10:

Trade amount (NPR)	Commission rate
Up to 2,500	Flat NPR 10
2,501 – 50,000	0.36%
50,001 – 500,000	0.33%
500,001 – 2,000,000	0.31%
2,000,001 – 10,000,000	0.27%
Above 10,000,000	0.24%

SEBON fee — 0.015% of the transaction amount, on both buy and sell.
DP charge — flat NPR 25 per script per transaction, on both buy and sell.

FIFO matters when you bought in lots

If you bought 100 shares of NABIL in 2022 and 50 more in 2024, and you sell 80 today, NEPSE applies FIFO — the 80 sold are treated as 80 from the 2022 lot. That has two implications: (a) the cost basis is the older, often lower price, and (b) those 80 shares are long-term (held more than 365 days) so they qualify for 5% CGT rather than 7.5%.

A worked example

Suppose you bought 100 shares of XYZ at NPR 500 on 1 January 2024 and sell them at NPR 700 on 5 March 2026 (held 794 days — long-term).

Buy side:

Buy amount = 100 × 500 = NPR 50,000
Commission = 0.36% of 50,000 = NPR 180
SEBON fee = 0.015% of 50,000 = NPR 7.50
DP charge = NPR 25
Total buy cost (cost basis) = NPR 50,212.50

Sell side:

Sell amount = 100 × 700 = NPR 70,000
Commission = 0.33% of 70,000 = NPR 231
SEBON fee = 0.015% of 70,000 = NPR 10.50
DP charge = NPR 25
Gross sell proceeds (before CGT) = 70,000 − 231 − 10.50 − 25 = NPR 69,733.50

Capital gain:

Capital gain = 69,733.50 − 50,212.50 = NPR 19,521
Holding period > 365 days → long-term → CGT rate = 5%
CGT = 5% of 19,521 = NPR 976.05

Net receivable to your CM account = 69,733.50 − 976.05 = NPR 68,757.45

The mistake spreadsheets make

Most retail spreadsheets compute CGT as "5% of (sell price − buy price) × quantity". For the example above that gives 5% × (700 − 500) × 100 = NPR 1,000. Off by NPR 23.95 — the spreadsheet missed the fees on both sides and applied CGT to a gross that already included broker commission. On a NPR 50k trade the error is small. On a NPR 5 million trade it's NPR 2,400 — enough to matter.

How Punji handles all of this

When you add a holding to Punji's portfolio, the buy total payable is computed with all three fees and stamped as the immutable cost basis. When you decide to sell, tap the holding and Punji shows the post-tax net receivable — applying the correct 5% or 7.5% band based on the actual holding period in days, FIFO across multiple lots, and broker fees on both sides. You can also use the standalone CGT calculator for a one-off computation without saving a holding. Not legal advice — verify edge cases with a tax advisor.