Directory of Nepal Customs Offices (Bhansar Karyalaya)

Nepal's border tax collection is administered by the Department of Customs (Bhansar Bibhag), a department of the Government of Nepal under the Ministry of Finance, with its head office at Tripureshwor, Kathmandu. The department dates in its modern form to the mid-1950s; after the 1950 Treaty of Trade and Commerce with India, inland customs posts were largely closed and collection shifted to the border. Today the department collects customs duty, value added tax (VAT), excise duty and other border charges at land crossings, international airports and inland dry ports.

Field operations are delivered through a tiered network. At the top are the large or 'main' customs offices (pramukh bhansar karyalaya), each headed by a chief customs officer and each responsible for one or more designated border crossing points. Reporting to these main offices are smaller sub-customs offices (sano bhansar / upa-bhansar karyalaya) that handle lower-volume crossings, seasonal trade and local movement of goods. Kathmandu Post reporting in 2019 cited 35 large customs offices and 103 sub-customs offices in the country, though the exact counts shift over time as posts are opened, merged or reclassified.

Geographically the network hugs Nepal's two land frontiers. The long, densely traded southern border with India carries the great majority of Nepal's foreign trade and hosts most of the busy offices; the northern Himalayan border with China has a smaller number of high-altitude offices, several of which handle only seasonal or limited traffic. Air cargo and passenger clearance is handled at customs offices located inside the country's international airports.

The India border accounts for the bulk of Nepal's customs revenue and trade volume, and its offices are the ones most importers, freight forwarders and customs agents deal with daily. Each main office is tied to a named twin-town crossing on the Nepal-India frontier. The list below runs roughly from the eastern Mechi zone across the Tarai to the far-western Mahakali region.

Birgunj Customs Office in Parsa (serving the Birgunj-Raxaul crossing) is by far the largest gateway and, with the adjoining Birgunj Integrated Check Post, handles a very large share of Nepal-India trade. Other high-volume offices include Bhairahawa Customs Office in Rupandehi (Siddharthanagar-Sunauli), Biratnagar Customs Office in Morang (Biratnagar-Jogbani), Mechi Customs Office in Jhapa (Kakarbhitta-Naxalbari), Nepalgunj Customs Office in Banke (Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha) and Kailali Customs Office in Dhangadhi (Dhangadhi-Gauriphanta).

Office names and the exact crossings they serve occasionally change as new integrated check posts open or as jurisdictions are redrawn; travellers and traders should confirm the current status of any specific post with the Department of Customs before relying on it.

Nepal's northern border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China is served by a smaller set of high-altitude customs offices. Two of these are the principal freight gateways: Tatopani Customs Office in Sindhupalchok, which serves the Kodari / Friendship Bridge (Zhangmu) route, and Rasuwa Customs Office in Rasuwa, which serves the Rasuwagadhi-Kyirong (Gyirong) crossing. Rasuwagadhi grew in importance after the 2015 earthquake damaged the Tatopani route, and both corridors have since operated as the main land links for Nepal-China trade.

The remaining China-border offices sit at remote passes and often handle limited, seasonal or local trade. These include Olangchungola (Taplejung), Kimathanka (Sankhuwasabha), Lamabagar (Dolakha), Larke (Gorkha), Mustang / Korala (Mustang), Mugu, and the Yari / Hilsa office in Humla. Because of altitude, weather and road conditions, service at several of these points is intermittent, and importers should treat them as specialised rather than everyday clearance channels.

Beyond the land borders, customs clearance also takes place at Nepal's international airports and at inland dry ports. The Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Customs Office in Kathmandu is the country's main air-cargo and passenger clearance point and is the office most international travellers and courier/air-freight importers encounter. Customs offices also operate at the newer Gautam Buddha International Airport at Bhairahawa (Siddharthanagar) and Pokhara International Airport in Gandaki, supporting air trade from those hubs.

Inland clearance is anchored by dry-port and central offices near Kathmandu. The Chobhar Dry Port Customs Office (Kirtipur) allows containerised cargo to be cleared inland rather than only at the border, easing congestion at crossings such as Birgunj. The Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Office in Tripureshwor is not a border checkpoint but a specialised unit that reviews declarations after goods are released, verifying valuation and duty payment to combat under-invoicing and misclassification.

ASYCUDA World (Automated System for Customs Data) is the UNCTAD-developed, web-based platform Nepal uses for electronic lodgement and processing of import and export declarations. The Department of Customs began computerising customs management with Asian Development Bank support from around 2011, and formally launched the pilot of ASYCUDA World on International Customs Day, 26 January 2016, starting at the Mechi Customs Office and rolling out gradually thereafter.

In the first phase during fiscal years 2017-18, ASYCUDA World was installed at nine major offices: Mechi, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Krishnanagar, Nepalgunj, Kailali, Birgunj, Gaur and Tribhuvan International Airport. Coverage then expanded steadily; by August 2019 the Kathmandu Post reported the system was operating at 24 customs offices, with the two main China-border points at Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani also equipped and Pashupatinagar at the final stage of installation. The department's stated goal has been to extend the electronic system across all significant offices, moving customs toward 'paperless' and 'cashless' clearance.

Because deployment is a rolling programme, the precise list of ASYCUDA World offices changes over time. Traders and agents should confirm whether a specific office is fully live on ASYCUDA World, and which declaration procedures apply there, directly with the Department of Customs or the office concerned.

This page is a reference overview; for legally operative details such as an office's current jurisdiction, opening status, contact numbers and the specific procedures in force, always consult the Department of Customs. The department maintains an offices/contact list on its official website (customs.gov.np), and several large offices such as Birgunj and Bhairahawa run their own sub-sites with local notices, tariffs and section contacts.

When identifying the right office, match your crossing rather than just the town name: many offices are named for a Nepali border settlement that pairs with an Indian counterpart town (for example Birgunj with Raxaul, Bhairahawa/Siddharthanagar with Sunauli, Kakarbhitta with Naxalbari). For air freight and passenger baggage the relevant office is the airport customs office, and for inland container clearance near Kathmandu it is the Chobhar Dry Port Customs Office. Note that sub-customs offices under a main office can open, close or be suspended for operational or security reasons, so verify before travelling to a minor crossing.