Rates and examples reviewed: 18 October 2026.
You buy 25 kitta of a stock at Rs. 673. The screen says Rs. 16,825. Two days later the broker bill arrives and the amount debited is Rs. 16,913.09.
That Rs. 88.09 gap is not an error and it is not your broker skimming. It is three separate charges that every NEPSE trade pays, and one of them is a flat fee that behaves very differently depending on how much you traded. Most people find out about them by noticing the gap. It is better to know them before you place the order.
The three charges on every trade
Broker commission
The commission rate changes with the transaction-value band. The applicable rate covers the whole transaction:
| Transaction amount | Commission rate |
|---|---|
| Up to Rs. 50,000 | 0.36% |
| Above Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 | 0.33% |
| Above Rs. 5,00,000 to Rs. 20,00,000 | 0.31% |
| Above Rs. 20,00,000 to Rs. 1,00,00,000 | 0.27% |
| Above Rs. 1 crore | 0.24% |
The rate band is selected using the total transaction amount, and that rate applies to the whole transaction. These are not progressive income-tax brackets.
For a Rs. 60,000 buy, the applicable rate is 0.33%:
- Commission = Rs. 60,000 x 0.33% = Rs. 198
- Do not split it into Rs. 50,000 at 0.36% and Rs. 10,000 at 0.33%.
These rates are set out in SEBON's commission circular effective 14 May 2024.
There is also a floor: Rs. 10 minimum commission per transaction. Below roughly Rs. 2,778 of trade value, 0.36% works out to less than Rs. 10, so you pay Rs. 10 regardless. On a Rs. 1,000 trade that is 1% in commission, not 0.36%.
SEBON fee
A flat 0.015% of the transaction amount, paid to the Securities Board of Nepal. It is not negotiable, it does not have slabs, and it applies to both buys and sells. On the Rs. 16,825 trade above it comes to Rs. 2.52. Its rupee amount grows with the transaction value; the rate stays at 0.015%.
DP charge
Rs. 25 per transfer group for the electronic movement of shares. A transfer group can contain multiple executions: the CDSC clearing and settlement FAQ, pages 20–21, gives a buy example of 100, 200, and 200 shares transferred together, with one Rs. 25 charge allocated across those executions in proportion to quantity.
Flat is the important word. This charge does not care whether you bought 5 kitta or 5,000. Which means:
- On a Rs. 200,000 buy, Rs. 25 is 0.0125% of your money. Ignore it.
- On a Rs. 2,000 buy, Rs. 25 is 1.25% of your money. The commission on that same trade is Rs. 10, so the DP charge is two and a half times the total commission.
Check the transfer grouping on your bill. Three executions in the same company do not automatically mean three DP charges. The calculator currently assumes one transfer group for each buy lot you enter and one for the sale.
The full picture: a worked example
Buy 25 kitta at Rs. 673, then sell the same 25 at Rs. 750 within 365 days. Assume a resident individual sells on or after 16 September 2026, with one buy transfer and one sell transfer. The example rounds each charge to two decimal places.
Buy side
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Share amount (25 x 673) | Rs. 16,825.00 |
| Broker commission (0.36%) | Rs. 60.57 |
| SEBON fee (0.015%) | Rs. 2.52 |
| DP charge | Rs. 25.00 |
| Total paid | Rs. 16,913.09 |
Your effective cost per share is 16,913.09 / 25 = Rs. 676.52, not Rs. 673. This is the effective cash cost used in this example. It is not a promise that your MeroShare WACC or broker tax basis will match it; check those records separately.
Sell side
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Share amount (25 x 750) | Rs. 18,750.00 |
| Broker commission (0.36%) | Rs. 67.50 |
| SEBON fee (0.015%) | Rs. 2.81 |
| DP charge | Rs. 25.00 |
| Net received before tax | Rs. 18,654.69 |
Profit
Rs. 18,654.69 minus Rs. 16,913.09 = Rs. 1,741.60 before tax. Using the current 5% short-term rate for a resident individual, estimated capital gains tax is Rs. 87.08, leaving Rs. 1,654.52 profit and Rs. 18,567.61 in net sale receipts. This uses the example’s cash profit as its estimated taxable gain; your broker’s tax-basis records determine the actual deduction.
The price moved Rs. 77 per share, which looks like Rs. 1,925 on 25 shares. You kept Rs. 1,654.52. Charges and estimated tax took about 14.1% of the move.
You can run your own numbers on the share calculator rather than doing this by hand.
The framework: charges scale, one charge doesn't
Two rules cover almost every decision you will make about trading costs.
Rule 1: fees land twice. Commission, SEBON fee, and DP charge apply on the way in and again on the way out. This is why a stock that returns exactly to your buy price is a small loss, not a break-even. Your break-even sell price is always above your buy price.
Rule 2: the flat charge decides whether small trades make sense. Commission and SEBON fee are percentages, so they stay proportional at any size. The Rs. 25 DP charge is fixed, so its bite shrinks as trade size grows. Buying and selling the same Rs. 2,000 position costs 3.53% of your money in charges. At Rs. 20,000 it is 1.00%. At Rs. 200,000 it is 0.72%. These examples assume one transfer on each side, the same buy and sell value, and no gain to tax.
The practical consequence: if five separate Rs. 5,000 buys settle as five transfer groups, you pay five DP charges. A Rs. 25,000 buy settled as one transfer pays one DP charge. Executions grouped into one transfer can share the charge, so compare settlement records rather than merely counting orders. That is not an argument against averaging in, which has its own reasons. It is an argument for knowing what the convenience costs, and for not making the lots smaller than they need to be.
Where this breaks
Rates change. These figures are the SEBON-mandated rates effective from Jestha 1, 2081 BS. Commission slabs have been revised before and will be again. If you are reading this a year from now, check the current circular rather than trusting the table above.
Brokers can differ at the edges. Some add small handling or transfer charges outside the SEBON schedule. Your contract note is the authority, not this article and not any calculator.
DP grouping matters. A calculator input lot is not necessarily a settlement transfer group. If several executions share one transfer, allocate that transfer’s charge across them instead of charging Rs. 25 to each execution. Check your actual bill when comparing it with calculator estimates.
This is equity only. Mutual funds, debentures, and the IPO/FPO path have their own charge structures. Do not carry these numbers across.
Capital gains tax applies to taxable gains. It is not a percentage of the gross sale amount. The calculator estimates a positive cash gain after charges; reconcile this with your broker’s WACC and taxable-gain records. For resident individuals, the effective rates from 16 September 2026 (2083-05-31 BS) are 5% for holdings of 365 days or less and 3.75% for longer holdings, following a 50% exemption on the 10% and 7.5% rates. See the official tax exemption notice. Older sales require the rate in force on their sale date. Entities and non-residents are taxed differently.
What to check next
Open your last broker bill and find the four lines: share amount, commission, SEBON fee, DP charge. Divide the total by your quantity and see what you actually paid per share. If you have been tracking your cost basis at the screen price rather than that number, every profit figure in your head is slightly optimistic.
Then read how to calculate profit after selling shares in Nepal for the full round trip including tax.
Sources reviewed
- SEBON commission circular, effective 14 May 2024: equity commission bands and whole-transaction rates.
- CDSC clearing and settlement FAQ, pages 20–21: the Rs. 25 transfer charge and allocation across grouped executions.
- Official tax exemption notice, effective 16 September 2026: the 50% exemption on resident-individual capital gains tax.