When does the fiscal year start in Nepal?

Nepal's fiscal year starts on 1 Shrawan (mid-July) and ends on the last day of Asar (mid-July the next year). The Government of Nepal budget is presented around Jestha 15 (late May) for the year that starts in Shrawan.

What is the Bikram Sambat (BS) calendar?

Bikram Sambat is Nepal's official solar calendar, roughly 56 years and 8 months ahead of the Gregorian (AD) calendar. The BS year starts on 1 Baisakh (mid-April). The 12 months are Baisakh, Jestha, Asar, Shrawan, Bhadra, Ashwin, Kartik, Mangsir, Poush, Magh, Falgun, Chaitra.

Is the tax year in Nepal also Shrawan to Asar?

Yes. Per the Income Tax Act 2058, the income year for individuals and businesses runs from 1 Shrawan to end of Asar. TDS deductions, salary tax computations, and annual income statements all reset on 1 Shrawan. The fiscal year and the income tax year are the same.

Should I budget by AD or BS calendar?

Budget by BS for everything that happens in Nepal — salary cycles, festivals, tax filings, school fees, government payments. Use AD for international goals (USD income, foreign mutual funds, visa savings). The right answer for most salaried Nepalis is BS as the primary clock with AD as a secondary reference.

When is the Nepal government budget announced?

On 15 Jestha (around 28–29 May) each year, for the fiscal year starting on 1 Shrawan. Tax slab changes, deduction limits, and any changes to PF/SSF/CIT rules typically take effect from Shrawan 1, not the date of announcement.

How do Dashain and Tihar fit into the BS budgeting year?

Both fall in the first quarter of the fiscal year — Dashain in Ashwin/Kartik, Tihar shortly after in Kartik. That's why most Nepali firms pay the festival bonus in Ashwin: it's the largest spending month of the year, and the fiscal cycle is built around it. Plan your Dashain–Tihar sinking fund to be full by the end of Bhadra.

Nepal's fiscal year: why it starts in Shrawan

Most Nepali household budgets are written in a calendar that has nothing to do with how money actually flows in Nepal. Rent is January-to-January. The credit card statement closes on the 15th. The salary lands on the 25th. Dashain shows up in October and blows the whole year apart.

Meanwhile, the budget that actually governs your money — the one IRD watches, the one your employer's HR runs the bonus and appraisal cycle on, the one that determines your tax slabs — runs Shrawan to Asar. From mid-July to mid-July. It has done so since the Income Tax Act 2058.

If you have ever been confused about why your TDS suddenly jumped in Falgun, why your bonus came in Ashwin, or why the next year's tax rules apply to a paycheck in late July — this post is the missing piece. Two clocks, one wallet, and how to get them on the same axis.

One country, two clocks

Nepal lives on two calendars at once.

AD (Gregorian) — the calendar your laptop, banking app, and international flights use. Year starts in January.
BS (Bikram Sambat) — Nepal's official solar calendar, ~56 years and 8 months ahead of AD. Year starts in Baisakh (mid-April). Months: Baisakh, Jestha, Asar, Shrawan, Bhadra, Ashwin, Kartik, Mangsir, Poush, Magh, Falgun, Chaitra.

And then there is a third axis layered on top: the fiscal year. The BS calendar year starts in Baisakh. The fiscal year starts in Shrawan, three months later. They are not the same thing, and conflating them is the most common mistake even Nepalis make.

Axis	Starts	Ends	What it governs
AD calendar year	1 January	31 December	Banking app, flights, foreign goals
BS calendar year	1 Baisakh (~14 Apr)	end Chaitra (~13 Apr)	Festivals, BS dates on bills, age in years
Nepal fiscal year	1 Shrawan (~16 Jul)	end Asar (~15 Jul)	Tax, salary, bonus, school, government

This post is about the third one — the fiscal year — because that's the year your money actually moves on.

Why Shrawan to Asar matters more than January to December

Three concrete reasons.

1. Tax rules reset on Shrawan 1. The Income Tax Act 2058 defines the income year as Shrawan to Asar. Annual slab boundaries, deductible caps for PF/SSF/CIT (see the CIT guide), and the entire TDS computation for salaried workers — all of these reset on Shrawan 1. If the budget announcement on Jestha 15 changed something, it kicks in two months later, on Shrawan 1.

2. The festival load lands in Q1. Dashain falls in Ashwin/Kartik. Tihar follows shortly after, also in Kartik. That's why the festival bonus is paid in Ashwin: from the fiscal year's point of view, it's a Q1 expense, not an end-of-year reward. If your year starts in January, Dashain is "later this year." If your year starts in Shrawan, Dashain is "next quarter, plan now."

3. The bonus and appraisal cycle aligns with it. Most private firms in Nepal close their books in Asar, do appraisals before Shrawan, and pay festival bonuses ahead of Dashain in Ashwin or Kartik. Government and many institutions follow the same rhythm. If you're measuring your savings rate or net worth on a January-to-January year, you're cutting the bonus in half — half in last year's numbers, half in this year's — and confusing yourself.

The honest read: AD is the calendar Nepal displays. BS, and especially the Shrawan-to-Asar fiscal year, is the calendar Nepal runs.

The four quarters of the Nepali fiscal year

Once you accept Shrawan as the year's starting line, the year has a very clear shape.

Q1 — Shrawan, Bhadra, Ashwin (mid-July to mid-October)

Monsoon and the run-up to Dashain. New tax rules in effect. Salary appraisals from last year start hitting the new pay cycle. The festival sinking fund is supposed to be full by the end of Bhadra. If it isn't, Q1 is when you find out.

Big spending events: Dashain shopping in late Ashwin.

Q2 — Kartik, Mangsir, Poush (mid-October to mid-January)

Tihar at the start of Kartik. Wedding season. End of monsoon damage assessments — vehicle and home repairs that you deferred during the rains land here. By Poush, you're in the cold months, fewer outings, lower discretionary spend.

Big spending events: Tihar in Kartik, weddings, family travel.

Q3 — Magh, Falgun, Chaitra (mid-January to mid-April)

The "quiet" quarter. AD year-end and start sit inside it, but for the Nepali fiscal cycle nothing structural happens. This is the savings-acceleration window. Use it. School-fee installments often hit in Falgun/Chaitra, so plan for that.

The new BS year starts at the very end of this quarter, on 1 Baisakh.

Q4 — Baisakh, Jestha, Asar (mid-April to mid-July)

Hot season. Budget announcement on Jestha 15 — this is when you find out next year's tax slabs and any changes to PF/SSF/CIT caps. Asar is the closing month for fiscal year — companies finalize accounts, employees finalize TDS reconciliations, the whole machine winds down.

Big planning events: Jestha 15 budget, end-of-year audit and TDS reconciliation in Asar.

Mapping your money to the BS year

Once the year has a shape, the budget has a shape.

A working layout for a salaried Kathmandu professional:

Shrawan: Reset all monthly budgets to the new tax rules. Recompute take-home if slabs changed. Adjust SIP/CIT amounts if the deduction cap moved.
Bhadra: Festival sinking fund must be full. Final top-up before Dashain.
Ashwin: Festival bonus arrives. Allocate it: emergency fund top-up first (see emergency fund sizing), Dashain spend second, savings third. Do not let it sit in the salary account.
Kartik: Tihar and weddings. Stay inside the festival fund. The emergency fund is not a wedding fund.
Poush: AD year-end review. Revisit the 50/30/20 split. Most people overspent in Q1; this is the recovery month.
Magh / Falgun: Acceleration window. Top up CIT if you're below the deduction cap. Open new SIPs. Push the savings rate.
Chaitra: School fees and BS year-end. Settle any pending year-end items.
Baisakh / Jestha: BS new year. Update your spreadsheet's year header to the new BS year. Watch for the Jestha 15 budget announcement.
Asar: TDS reconciliation. Check your Form 16-equivalent against your own records. If something looks off, fix it before Shrawan 1, not after.

The pattern: the year has a busy front half (Shrawan to Kartik), a recovery period (Mangsir to Poush), an acceleration window (Magh to Chaitra), and a settlement period (Baisakh to Asar). Once you see the shape, you stop being surprised by it.

When AD still makes sense

BS-first doesn't mean BS-only.

Use AD for:

USD or foreign-currency income (clients abroad, remittance) — banks and platforms report on AD.
Foreign mutual funds, foreign brokerages, crypto — all AD-anchored.
Visa savings, foreign tuition, international flights — all priced in AD timelines.
Subscription services billed by foreign companies (Netflix, AWS, GitHub).

Use BS / Shrawan-to-Asar for:

Salary, TDS, payslip, PF/SSF/CIT.
Festival sinking fund and Dashain–Tihar planning.
School fees and education planning.
Government utility bills, ward office payments, vehicle tax.
Annual income tax filing.

Most spreadsheets and apps default to AD. Override the year header. A budget labeled "FY 2082/83" (Shrawan 2082 to Asar 2083) is more useful than one labeled "2026" — because no single AD year contains a complete Nepali fiscal year.

What you actually need to know

Switch the clock. Run your year from Shrawan to Asar, plan around the four quarters, and let AD be a secondary reference for the parts of your life that genuinely belong to the global calendar — international income, foreign goals, flights.

Once you do, two things happen at once. The Dashain spike stops feeling like an ambush, and the tax year stops feeling like a surprise. The money still flows the way it always did. You're just finally measuring it on the same axis the country actually uses.

Got a quirk in the BS year that's tripped you up — late TDS reconciliation, a festival fund that ran dry by Tihar, a tax slab change that caught you out? Email parjanya57@gmail.com.