OpenAI Registers as a Taxpayer in Kazakhstan

OpenAI, the U.S.-based developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, has officially registered as a taxpayer in Kazakhstan and will now pay value-added tax (VAT), according to the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of the Ministry of Finance. The announcement comes as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure equitable taxation of foreign digital service providers operating in the country’s market. Kazakhstan introduced its digital services tax, commonly referred to as the “Google tax”, in 2022, becoming one of the first countries in Central Asia to do so. The policy aims to bring major international tech firms into the national tax framework. “As part of improving interaction with global digital platforms, in May 2025, OpenAI, L.L.C., a leading American organization in the field of artificial intelligence and widely known as the developer of the ChatGPT intelligent system, was conditionally registered. Now, for providing services to individuals in Kazakhstan, the chatbot will pay VAT in accordance with tax legislation,” the SRC said in a statement. ChatGPT is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) language model. It can understand and respond to user queries, assist with translations, compose letters, generate code, and support learning and research tasks. The digital services tax has become a significant revenue stream for Kazakhstan. In 2022, it contributed 16.4 billion KZT (approximately $32.1 million) to the state budget. Revenues increased to 26.3 billion KZT ($51.4 million) in 2023 and reached 26.4 billion KZT ($51.6 million) in 2024. To date, around 100 international companies, including Google, Apple, Netflix, and Amazon, are registered as VAT payers under the digital services tax regime. The registration process for foreign companies has been streamlined to facilitate compliance. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, OpenAI also registered as a taxpayer in Uzbekistan in April.

OpenAI Registers as Taxpayer in Uzbekistan

U.S.-based artificial intelligence company OpenAI has officially registered as a taxpayer in Uzbekistan. According to the State Tax Committee, OpenAI was added to the country's special platform for foreign electronic service providers on April 8, becoming the 67th international internet company to register in Uzbekistan. OpenAI is best known for developing ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that gained rapid global popularity following its launch in November 2022. Within five days, the platform surpassed one million users. In March 2023, OpenAI released GPT-4, a more advanced version of the model capable of understanding both text and images. Since November 2023, ChatGPT has been accessible to users in Uzbekistan. The move comes amid heightened efforts by Uzbek authorities to enforce tax compliance among foreign digital platforms operating in the country. On March 4, the National Agency for Perspective Projects and the State Tax Committee issued a joint warning to Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, which had failed to register as a taxpayer. As a result, access to Temu has been blocked in Uzbekistan since March 20. Although Temu is legally registered in Uzbekistan, the Tax Committee reported on March 18 that the platform still owes 46 billion UZS (approximately $3.5 million) in unpaid taxes. First Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee Mubin Mirzayev stated that Temu must settle its debt before it can resume operations in the country. According to analyst Timurmalik Elmuradov, Temu faces two options: either open a local branch or register as a value-added tax (VAT) payer. The platform’s monthly sales in Uzbekistan are estimated at $8-9 million. Other foreign platforms have also come under scrutiny. Russian online retailer Wildberries, which initially received a similar warning, has since paid 52 billion UZS (about $4 million) in taxes, according to Mirzayev. The government says it is committed to ensuring that all e-commerce companies operating in Uzbekistan comply with local tax regulations.