How Nepal’s tax lottery works—and how a Rs250 purchase won Rs1 million

A consumer in Nepal has won the government's Rs1 million bumper prize in its new taxpayer incentive lottery. The winner purchased goods worth just Rs250 at a grocery store in Kanchanpur.

The lottery is part of a government initiative to boost tax compliance by encouraging consumers to demand official bills for purchases over Rs100. This aims to discourage businesses from hiding sales and underreporting income.

On Friday, 15 consumers also won daily prizes of Rs100,000 each. The winners were selected from over 25.6 million electronic transactions and 7,077 cash transactions using a secure random sampling method. The prize money is subject to taxes, with the Rs1 million prize amounting to Rs750,000 after tax.

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle introduced the program in the federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27. The Inland Revenue Department stated the program aims to improve business transaction recording and strengthen tax compliance by turning consumers into an additional layer of tax monitoring.

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The programme is designed to encourage consumers to ask for tax invoices, improve the recording of business transactions and strengthen tax compliance.