7 min read
What to Set Up Before Your First IRD Bill: VAT, TDS, and Invoice Series
What to confirm before a Nepali shop issues its first tax invoice: registration, VAT and TDS treatment, bill numbering, and who is allowed to change them.
IRD e-billing is a tax process. It is not a theme you turn on the morning you hear a neighbour was fined. Whether you must issue tax invoices, and whether those invoices must sync to CBMS, depends on your registration and current rules.
This article is a setup checklist so you can ask better questions. It is not tax advice, and it does not say that a screen in Sajilo IMS is itself an IRD approval. Confirm obligations with your accountant or IRD, and confirm the billing setup with your software provider.
Before you print a sequence
Know whether you are VAT-registered and what must appear on the invoice. Decide, with your accountant, how discounts affect the taxable amount. TDS is usually about payments you make, not about every customer bill. Do not add it because a template had a line for it.
Write down the legal name, address, and registration number exactly as they should print. A shortened shop name that does not match the registration creates bills you may have to explain.
One invoice series, no reused numbers
Pick a starting number and do not recycle it. Voids and returns need their own trail. Deleting a bill to “reuse” the number breaks the sequence your accountant will look for.
If you have more than one counter, agree whether they share a series or have separate ones. Two computers inventing the same next number is a setup bug, not a busy day.
Who is allowed to change tax setup
Cashiers sell. They should not edit the rate, the registration line, or the next bill number during a queue. Lock that with roles.
On the first live day, issue a few real bills, then sit with your accountant and check that the stored bill matches what you think you must keep. Fix the setup before festival week, not during it.
Frequently asked questions
- Do all shops need CBMS sync?
- No. It depends on your registration and IRD’s current rules. Ask your accountant. Do not copy another shop’s configuration.
- Can we start billing and add VAT later?
- Only if you are sure those early bills should not have been tax invoices. Changing history is harder than setting the series correctly on day one.
Ready to tighten inventory control?
Register for Sajilo IMS or talk to our Nepal-based team about warehouses, stock, and reporting for your business.