Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin told journalists about new amendments to the tax reform.
According to “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda”, in an interview Zhumangarin stated that simplifying the tax system would reduce corruption risks, and businessmen would have the opportunity to work in more honest and transparent conditions.
“It is proposed to lower the registration threshold to 15 million tenge. In this case, 80% of entrepreneurs with an income of up to 15 million tenge fall into the micro and small business category. For comparison: in Russia this threshold is 10 million tenge, in Uzbekistan – 30 million, in Kyrgyzstan – also around 30 million” – stated Serik Zhumangarin.
In turn, the editorial team of Exclusive.kz found that Zhumangarin's statements about VAT thresholds in neighbouring countries have nothing to do with the truth.
Thus, according to information from the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, in Russia exemption from paying VAT is indeed in effect until a turnover of 2 million rubles (11.5 million tenge), but this value is calculated not over a year, as in Kazakhstan, but over three months. And when registering a business under the simplified taxation system, VAT is not applied until an annual turnover of 60 million rubles (348 million tenge) is reached.
According to the Tax Code of Uzbekistan, VAT is paid when a turnover of 1 billion UZS (38.7 million tenge) is reached, not the 30 million tenge previously stated by Zhumangarin.
“The difference cannot be attributed to conditional rounding, since the currency exchange rate has never fallen to such a low level”, the editorial team noted.
According to the state tax service under the Ministry of Finance of Kyrgyzstan, the simplified taxation system without paying VAT is in effect until a threshold of 8 million soms (45.7 million tenge) is reached, which also does not correspond with the minister's statement about supposedly 30 million tenge.