Kazakhstan adopts new Tax CodeKazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed the Law on Amendments to the Code on Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget (Tax Code) and Accompanying Laws on its Implementation, the presidential press service said in a Friday press release."The Tax Code provides for a large-scale simplification of tax administration: tax reporting will be reduced by 30%, the number of taxes will be cut by 20%, and benefits and fees will be optimized. Significant changes affect all key areas - from corporate and individual income taxes to investment incentives and the redistribution of the tax burden," the statement said.The base value-added tax (VAT) rate has been increased to 16%, up from the previous 12%. However, a reduced VAT rate of 5% (starting in 2026) and 10% (from 2027) has been set for medicines and medical services.VAT exemptions will apply to services under the guaranteed volume of free healthcare and mandatory health insurance, treatment of orphan and widespread diseases included in the government-composed list, as well as paper-based publishing services and archaeological work.A reduced VAT rate of 10% will apply to periodical printed publications. The mandatory VAT registration threshold has been lowered to 10,000 monthly calculation indexes (MCI), down from 20,000 MCI.Progressive rates for individual income tax (IIT) have been introduced. The base IIT rate remains at 10%. A higher rate of 15% will apply to citizens' aggregate annual income exceeding 8,500 MCIs. A similar rate will apply to dividends and entrepreneurs' income exceeding 230,000 MCI per year. For farmers, while maintaining a 70% tax benefit, the rate on income above this threshold will be 4.5%.Pension payments from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) are exempt from IIT.The vehicle tax has been reduced for cars older than 10 years. The social tax deduction for persons with disabilities has been increased - from 882 to 5,000 MCI.The number of taxes has been reduced: the land tax has been abolished, and the number of rates and fees for certain payments has been cut.Special tax regimes have been optimized to amount to only three vs. today’s six: for self-employed, based on a simplified declaration procedure, and for farming enterprises.Self-employed individuals will be able to calculate and make payments through a mobile app.The corporate income tax (CIT) remains at 20%, but differentiated rates are introduced: 25% for banks (except for business lending) and the gambling industry, 5% for social sector organizations in 2026 (increasing to 10% in 2027). For agricultural producers, the preferential rate of 3% has been maintained.To stimulate the stock market, tax benefits on dividends from exchange-traded securities have been retained. Income from securities issued by the Baiterek Holding will be exempt from CIT until 2031.Previously, Kazakh citizens had to pay a 10% tax on income from exchange transactions, while non-residents paid 15%. However, there were certain exemptions: no IIT was to be paid on income from securities transactions up to 30,000 MCI traded on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). The exemption was applied if the number of transactions did not exceed 50 per month and their aggregate value was not above 25 million tenge.Additional preferences are now provided for mineral processing and geological exploration, including a zero mineral extraction tax (MET) rate for five years for new low-profit deposits.Increased excise taxation (10%) has been introduced for individuals purchasing luxury goods: cars priced over 75 million tenge, vessels over 100 million tenge, alcohol over 0.5 million tenge per liter, and cigars over 10,000 tenge per piece. Property tax will also increase if the total value of real estate is over 450 million tenge.Significant changes have been made to tax administration. In-house tax audits will take on a preventive nature. Procedures for tax debt collection, deferrals and installment plans have been simplified. For minor debt amounts, business accounts will not be blocked. Notifications and measures will be applied gradually, depending on the debt amount.The new Tax Code will come into force on January 1, 2026.In 2025, one MCI is set at 3,932 tenge. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX