The beautiful nuthatch was first described in 1843 by British zoologist Edward Blyth, from a specimen he examined in Darjeeling. Its kinship with other members of the genus is unclear. The bright blue color of its invites a comparison to the blue nuthatch ("S. azurea"), or other blue-tinted nuthatch species such as the velvet-fronted nuthatch ("S. frontalis"), yellow-billed nuthatch ("S. solangiae") and the sulphur-billed nuthatch ("S. oenochlamys"), but its distribution being focused in the eastern Himalayas, and the uniqueness of its plumage, argues against the assumption. According to the International Ornithological Congress and ornithologist Alan P. Peterson, no subspecies have been identified.