A Payroll Compliance Checklist for Nepali Employers (2083/84)

Short answer: Nepali payroll compliance comes down to four recurring obligations — SSF filing, TDS deduction and deposit, leave accrual under labor law, and payslip recordkeeping — checked every single pay cycle, not once a year.

1. SSF registration and monthly filing

• Every eligible employee is enrolled with an active SSF ID
• 20% employer / 11% employee contribution calculated on basic salary, not gross
• Monthly filing submitted on time, every cycle — not batched quarterly

2. TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) on salary

• Correct tax slab applied per employee, updated for the current fiscal year
• TDS recalculated whenever salary structure changes mid-year, not just at the next annual review
• Deposited and reported to the tax office within the required window

3. Leave accrual under labor law

• Annual, sick, and other statutory leave types accruing correctly per employee tenure
• Leave balances visible to employees, not just HR — disputes usually start with an employee guessing their own balance
• Unused leave handled correctly at year-end or on exit, per policy and law

4. Payslip and recordkeeping

• Itemized payslip issued every cycle — not a lump-sum bank transfer with no breakdown
• Payroll records retained in a form that can be pulled quickly if an auditor or labor office asks
• SSF, TDS, and leave records reconcilable back to the same source data, not three disconnected spreadsheets

Why this list gets missed in spreadsheet payroll

None of these four items are exotic — they're exactly what any Nepali payroll process is supposed to do. What actually breaks is consistency: SSF calculated correctly in January but not reconciled in June, or payslips issued for some employees and skipped for others during a busy month. Software doesn't make compliance possible — it makes it consistent, which is the part manual payroll usually loses first.