Social-Media
Government prepares to tax social media advertising In Nepal
The government is preparing to tax income from advertisements on social media. The Inland Revenue Sub-Committee under the Revenue Advisory Committee has recommended to the Ministry of Finance to impose tax on social media advertisements.
A sub-committee formed under the committee formed to identify and suggest new areas of revenue collection has suggested to impose tax on social media. The sub-committee has suggested that the advertisers have been paying the advertisement fee themselves and through local agents as there is no social media registration in Nepal and such payment should be brought under the tax net.
Social media including YouTube and Facebook are earning huge amount of money from Nepal. However, their business is not covered by the tax. The sub-committee has suggested that it would be appropriate to tax the payments made on such unproductive social networks at a higher rate.
"Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. have been appointed a local agents in Nepal," the sub-committee said in a report. Who have been paying for advertisements on social media all at once. '
Pointing out the risk of using hundi in such payments, the sub-committee said that local agencies should be brought under the tax net.
The sub-committee also stated that there is no legal impediment to taxing the advertisements on social media even though the issue of social media registration is not clear. The Advertising Regulation Act mentions the issue of bringing advertisements on social media under the scope of tax.
