BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
Trend:
The non-cash payments increased in Kazakhstan, Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alibek Kuantyrov said, Trend reports with reference to the parliament of Kazakhstan.
“Taxes are one of the main tools for regulating the economy, redistributing national income and stimulating business development,” Kuantyrov said. “Therefore, the sphere of taxation must be constantly improved.”
The minister stressed that the special attention has been recently paid to the development of small business.
“Thus, micro and small businesses applying special tax regimes are exempt from income taxes for three years (2020-2022),” Kuantyrov added. “Moreover, a moratorium on inspections of micro and small businesses has been introduced for the same period. These measures cover more than one million businessmen.”
The minister said that businesses are required to conduct their business conscientiously and in a transparent manner, as well as by using the non-cash payment instruments.
“This is necessary to make the economy transparent, especially in the trade and service sector, in which there is big shadow turnover,” Kuantyrov said.
According to the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the number of non-cash transactions increased by more than 2.4 times and reached 35.3 trillion tenge ($81.5 billion) in 2019-2020. There is a rapid decrease in the volume of cash withdrawal by using payment cards from 89.6 percent in 2015 up to 32.6 percent as of 2020.
“However, funds received through mobile money transfers are not indicated as income by businessmen, despite the current tax exemption,” the minister said. “Thus, the issue of accounting such income was to be resolved at the level of legislation and the corresponding changes were made to the tax legislation in 2021.”
Kuantyrov said that thus, obtaining the information on the income of businessmen received through mobile money transfers is aimed at accounting for income and reducing shadow turnover.