From company formation to customs clearance — Gateway Consult navigates Nepal's legal landscape so your business moves forward with confidence.
Gateway Consult is a full-service corporate legal and business consulting firm headquartered in Kathmandu, with branch offices in Itahari and Birtamode. We serve startups, SMEs, and multinational enterprises navigating Nepal's regulatory landscape.
Our principal, Advocate Bikash Jung Karki, holds triple licensure — in Advocacy, Customs Practice, and Insolvency — making Gateway Consult one of Nepal's few truly integrated corporate legal firms.
Licensed Advocate — Nepal Bar Council
Licensed Customs Agent — Department of Customs
Licensed Liquidator — Office of Company Registrar
Alumni — Tribhuvan & Rajarshi Janak Universities
Eight integrated service lines covering every dimension of corporate law and business compliance in Nepal.
End-to-end company formation at OCR — Private Ltd, Public Ltd, NGO, Branch Office — and licensed insolvency & liquidation proceedings under the Companies Act 2063.
Strategic legal counsel for businesses — drafting & reviewing commercial contracts, shareholder agreements, MOUs, and board-level governance documentation.
Annual compliance filings, regulatory audit support, PAN/VAT registration, periodic OCR renewals, and multi-agency liaison to keep your business in good standing.
Licensed customs agent services for import/export documentation, HS classification, duty optimization, and Department of Customs compliance across all entry points.
Full-cycle FDI support — FITTA approvals, DPIIT/DOI liaison, joint venture structuring, technology transfer agreements, and repatriation compliance under Nepal Rastra Bank guidelines.
Trademark registration, copyright protection, patent advisory, and IP enforcement through the Department of Industry — safeguarding your brand and creative assets across Nepal.
IRD liaison, income tax & VAT planning, tax dispute resolution, financial due diligence for M&A, and pre-investment tax structuring for domestic and foreign entities.
Advisory and representation under Labour Act 2074 — employment contract drafting, SSF registration, workplace policy compliance, and Labour Court representation for disputes.
Fixed-fee packages designed for clarity. Government fees are billed separately at actuals.
Free 30-minute call to assess your requirements, entity type, and the most efficient legal pathway for your business.
We provide a precise checklist and guide you through document preparation, authentication, and translation where required.
Our team handles all government filings, departmental follow-ups, and approval tracking — you stay updated at every step.
You receive all original certificates, a compliance calendar, and access to ongoing advisory support to keep your business compliant.
A step-by-step overview of the OCR registration process, required documents, and typical timelines for incorporating a Pvt. Ltd. in Nepal.
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Everything foreign investors need to know about Nepal's Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act — sectors, minimums, and approval pathways.
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A practical summary of employer obligations under Labour Act 2074 — from SSF contributions to leave entitlements and termination procedures.
Read ArticleProfessional-grade utilities built by our legal team to simplify Nepal's administrative and business processes — free for public use.
The company registration process is fully digitalized through the official OCR portal. First, a unique name reservation application is submitted online. Upon approval, corporate constitutional documents—including the Memorandum of Association (MOA) and Articles of Association (AOA) cleanly drafted in standard Nepali format—are uploaded alongside promoters' identity scans. Once online verification is complete and registration fees are cleared via electronic payment systems or authorized banks, the OCR issues the digital Company Registration Certificate, approved MOA/AOA, and pre-allocated PAN/VAT indicators.
Under the Companies Act 2063 (as amended), there is no statutory minimum authorized or paid-up capital required to incorporate a standard local Private Limited Company in Nepal. Promoters are free to declare capitalization baselines tailored to their actual commercial metrics. However, specific regulated sectors such as banking institutions, insurance firms, hydropower ventures, or entities pursuing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI under FITTA) remain subject to distinct statutory minimum thresholds.
The online business registration portal requires digital sets of the following legal artifacts:
Yes, the provisions of the Companies Act 2063 explicitly validate the establishment of a single-member Private Limited Company. A single individual can serve simultaneously as the sole promoter, 100% shareholder, and managing director of the incorporated enterprise while fully leveraging structural shields of limited corporate liability.
Following incorporation at the OCR, a company must complete several post-registration legal mandates before opening for trade: it must activate its PAN/VAT tax profile at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), ratify corporate bank opening minutes to deposit initial equity configurations, register physical offices with the local **Ward Office**, and file official share allotment (Badfad) frameworks on the OCR digital network within statutory timelines.
To sustain active status in good standing, companies must regularly upload specific mandatory disclosures onto the online OCR portal. These filings consist of the Share Allotment Details (Section 51) due within 30 days of allotment, the Notice of Registered Office location (Section 184) due within 3 months, and **Annual Audited Financial Statements** (comprising balance sheets, profit & loss statement logs, and auditor reports alongside Annual General Meeting (AGM) minutes) submitted within 6 months of the concluding fiscal cycle.
Delays or lapses in filing statutory compliance updates trigger automatic **accrued monetary penalties and late fees**, which the OCR automated portal computes relative to your company's total authorized capital structure and total delayed duration. If an entity demonstrates compliance defaults spanning 3 consecutive financial periods, the OCR holds the legal administrative authority to list the company as inactive, block further corporate updates, or permanently strike off and dissolve the corporate registration profile entirely.
Executing functional modifications to a firm's operational focus, legal title, or physical headquarters requires a formal amendment to its charter papers (MOA/AOA). The company must adopt a Special Resolution at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), package official minutes alongside modified drafts of your MOA/AOA on the OCR online system, and pay specified filing costs. Legal enforceability of updates is granted once the OCR generates its approved **Amendment Verification Letter**.
Under the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act (FITTA 2019), foreign investment is explicitly prohibited in micro and cottage industries, traditional personal services (such as tailoring, beauty salons, and driving schools), real estate businesses, poultry farming, and local travel agencies. Other commercial sectors are wide open or subject to custom local ownership equity ceilings.
Yes, 100% foreign equity ownership is legal and permitted across the majority of manufacturing, IT development, energy, and commercial enterprise sectors under FITTA regulations. Certain sensitive industry exceptions mandate partnerships with a local enterprise or Nepalese citizen corporate nominee.
Yes, international business entities retain the legal right to fully repatriate investment capital, corporate dividends, royalties, and profit yields under the regulatory guarantees of FITTA 2019. The remittance flow must be cleared through financial reporting channels authorized by the Central Bank (Nepal Rastra Bank - NRB).
Yes, contribution-based Social Security Fund (SSF) compliance is completely mandatory for all operational employers in Nepal under the Contribution-Based Social Security Act 2074. The employer is required to contribute an amount equivalent to 20% of the baseline salary, while the individual employee contributes 11% into the statutory monthly security fund matrix.
No, employers in Nepal cannot legally execute summary terminations without demonstrating strict compliance with due process under the Labour Act 2074. Lawful termination require explicit prior written notice, a formalized internal disciplinary investigation or performance appraisal tracking, and matching statutory severance packages to avoid financial liability in the Labour Court.