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Kazakhstan exhorts local businesses and entrepreneurs to tax fair amounts

Economy Materials 28 February 2025 14:09 (UTC +04:00)
Kazakhstan exhorts local businesses and entrepreneurs to tax fair amounts
Madina Usmanova
Madina Usmanova
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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, February 28. Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister, Olzhas Bektenov, has urged entrepreneurs and businessmen to pay fair amounts of taxes within two weeks during a working meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin and Minister of Finance Madi Takiyev, Trend reports.

Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a working meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin and Minister of Finance Madi Takiyev. The meeting addressed issues related to tax-budget reform and strengthening the control over tax revenues.

“Taking this opportunity, I would like to address the owners and heads of large companies that use various schemes to optimize tax burdens. Today or tomorrow, tax authorities will send notifications to your companies about the need to pay additional taxes. I ask everyone to submit additional tax declarations and pay fair amounts of taxes within two weeks. If these actions are not taken, the state reserves the right to apply all available resources, including fiscal and law enforcement. The conversation will be tough, but we are ready for dialogue if the business is willing to act fairly towards the state,” emphasized Olzhas Bektenov.

Finance Minister Madi Takiyev stressed that, as part of the ongoing analysis, it was found that special tax regimes (STR) previously introduced to support and develop small businesses during their formation were being used by unscrupulous taxpayers as legal schemes for optimizing tax obligations.

''The companies follow the principle of increasing “documentary” costs to optimize taxes and dilute profits. One company purchases goods and resells them at cost price to another legal entity operating under a simplified regime. Consequently, the first company posts a loss, while the second company avoids paying VAT by taking advantage of favorable conditions,'' he emphasized.

To date, Kazakhstan has 2.3 million registered taxpayers. Of these, only eight percent, or 137,000, are VAT payers. In total, 81 percent of the subjects operate under a special tax regime with a simplified declaration, with 85 percent of them reporting incomes up to 15 million tenge / $30,000.

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