ASTANA (TCA) — At a briefing on December 27, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance Marat Sultangaziyev spoke about the Kazakh government’s readiness to conduct a tax amnesty in the country, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
In his recent address to the people of Kazakhstan “Growing Welfare of Kazakh Citizens: Increase in Income and Quality of Life,” President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed to hold a tax amnesty for small and medium-sized businesses from Jan. 1, 2019, by cancelling the accrued fees and fines subject to the taxpayer paying the principal amount.
Sultangaziyev said that the Ministry of Finance had developed relevant amendments to the legislation for tax amnesty, which are currently under consideration by the Senate of Parliament.
“The draft amendment provides for the cancellation by Dec. 31, 2019, of fines and penalties to small and medium businesses, subject to repayment of the principal debt which was available Oct. 1, 2018. In this case, the fines will be cancelled as of Oct. 1, 2018, and the penalty — accrued before the date of payment of the principal debt,” explained Sultangaziyev.
According to the chairman, the cancellation of penalties and fines will also apply to taxpayers who, in accordance with the Tax Code or the legislation on rehabilitation and bankruptcy, are deferred to pay taxes or are in a rehabilitation procedure.
The following categories of taxpayers are not subject to amnesty: large taxpayers subject to monitoring; subsoil users, with the exception of subsoil users being such solely because of the possession of the right to extract groundwater and therapeutic mud; producers of excisable goods; individuals who are not engaged in entrepreneurial activities or private practice.
According to preliminary calculations carried out by the Ministry of Finance, 90,077 subjects of medium and small business fall under the amnesty, and as of Oct. 1, 2018, they have tax debts of 340.6 billion tenge. At the same time, the total amount of penalties to be written off is 122.9 billion tenge, fines — 7.3 billion tenge, which will be cancelled provided that the principal debt is paid for 210.4 billion tenge.
“We believe that holding a tax amnesty will be an effective mechanism for supporting entrepreneurs and will be an incentive for the payment of the principal debt and complete relief from the tax burden. In general, this action will allow entrepreneurs to reboot their production, save and expand jobs, increase production, and thus contribute to improving the welfare of Kazakhstanis, their incomes and quality of life,” said Sultangaziyev.
In the history of independent Kazakhstan, tax amnesties for writing off penalties and fines to improve the financial and economic activities of enterprises were conducted three times (in 1997–1999, in 2011 and 2015), each time providing an opportunity for businesses to get rid of accumulated debts and continue their legitimate commercial activities.
