KATHMANDU — Now people coming to Nepal from abroad can bring only one mobile phone.
If the person has brought an additional mobile phone, including the one he is using, he will have to pay an 18 percent tax to the customs department for the second mobile phone.
According to Jhitigunta facilities, there is a provision to bring one mobile phone per person from abroad. If you bring more than that, the customs department has the right to pay or confiscate the customs,” said Yamraj Pandey, spokesperson of the Tribhuvan Airport Customs Office. Now the customs of the second phone will have to be paid.’
According to him, if someone brings more than two phones, they will be confiscated.
“The government will sell those confiscated mobiles by inviting tenders,” he said.
The department is preparing to tighten the rules for importing mobile phones from the 15th of January. When a person brings a mobile phone from abroad, he has to pay 5 percent customs duty and 13 percent value-added tax, totaling 18 percent.
Spokesperson Pandey said an example, ‘Foreign currency of mobile phones that are tried to enter Nepal will be converted into current Nepali rupees, and a total of 18 percent tax will be imposed on it.’
After paying the customs revenue, the department issues a notification letter for the said mobile. Nepal Telecommunication Authority has implemented the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) system.
The authority has implemented this policy to prevent using mobile phones from illegal sources. After this system is implemented, phones other than officially imported phones have to be registered.
Mobile phones entering the airport will also be registered in the MDMS system based on the notification received after paying customs.
According to the spokesman of the department, the customs department is also trying to make the customs duty of phones imported from abroad more effective to make the MDMS implemented by the Telecommunication Authority effective to prevent the trend of illegal importation of mobile phones.
