How do people in Bhutan pay online?
Mobile banking and QR lead. Citing the Royal Monetary Authority’s (RMA) Quarterly Payment System Report, Bhutan Broadcasting Service reported about 38 million mobile banking transactions in January to March 2025, up 4.3% year on year, including nearly 33 million QR payments worth over Nu 33.5 billion. Cheque and ATM use fell by about 27% in the same quarter. DataReportal counts 706,000 internet users in late 2025, 88.4% of the population.
Bhutan QR ties the banks together. It is a QR code based on the global EMVCo standard, and with it customers pay by scanning the QR codes of different banks, with funds moving straight from their accounts and no card terminal needed. The interoperability project began in March 2020, and Bank of Bhutan offers it to its customers as National QR.
Online stores in Bhutan have two gateway routes. Merchants based in Bhutan can register with the RMA’s payment gateway to take payments from customers who hold bank accounts in Bhutan. Banks also run card gateways: Bank of Bhutan’s e-Payment Gateway accepts Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards issued by banks worldwide for Bhutanese merchants registered with it.
Google Pay is available for online payments in Bhutan. Bhutan is not on Apple’s list of Apple Pay countries.
What rules shape online payments in Bhutan?
Goods and Services Tax started on 1 January 2026 at a standard rate of 5%, replacing the sales tax framework. Registration is required once gross sales pass BTN 5 million in the previous 12 months, BTN 2.5 million in the previous six months, or are expected to pass BTN 5 million in the next 12 months.
Foreign sellers are in scope. KPMG reports that non-resident providers must account for GST on imported services supplied to Bhutanese consumers, and must appoint a local representative to register. A consumer is identified by a Bhutanese contact and billing address together with a Bhutan-based bank or a Bhutan-issued card. Electronic services are broadly defined, from websites and software to music and films. Where sales go through an electronic distribution platform, the platform charges and collects GST, and when a seller cannot tell a business buyer from a consumer, GST applies.
The bank account gateway is domestic. The RMA payment gateway serves merchants based in Bhutan and customers with Bhutanese bank accounts, so a foreign merchant would rely on cards or a local partner.
How would Omno route payments in Bhutan?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Bhutan:
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, currency and amount, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Bank account and QR payments could be offered through a Bhutanese provider or partner that is registered with the RMA gateway, with the order pending until the provider confirms.
- Customer groups could see different methods, for example cards and Google Pay for shoppers abroad and bank payments for customers in Bhutan.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for mobile banking habits. Most digital payments in Bhutan start in a banking app, so a bank payment option matters as much as a card form.
Plan for a local partner. The RMA payment gateway is open to merchants based in Bhutan, so a foreign merchant reaches bank account payments only through a local partner.
Plan for GST. Check whether your sales to Bhutanese consumers pass the BTN 5 million threshold, appoint a local representative if you must register, and confirm whether a platform you sell through collects GST for you.