"Danger zone reached": Finance Ministry describes the surge in business tax audits
Here's the revised, restructured, and rephrased article:
Deputy Minister Dauren Kenbeil addresses the rise in tax inspections for businesses, clearing up any misconceptions about a potential "harassment" campaign. Our reporter's on the case.
Initially, the Ministry of Finance posted a list of 444 businesses due for inspections on their website on May 23rd. Some spectators suggested this move might be intimidating to businesses. Yet, Kenbeil dashes those worries aside.
"Our risk management system, composed of 'red', 'yellow', and 'green' levels, selects these companies," he explained. "This isn't some sinister tactic, as suggested. It's simply the result of the risk management system at play."
He went on to specify that this isn't a "blacklist" but a list of scheduled inspections.
"Our team will execute the inspections, examine each company's case, and make a decision based on the evidence. We have a risk map, and these businesses are among our focus once identified," he added.
The criteria for inclusion in this list were left unmentioned.
Earlier this month, on May 19th, Kenbeil had another conversation concerning bloggers' tax debts in the halls of the Mazhilis. He mentioned that around 850 bloggers had received notifications, with approximately 360 voluntarily admitting their total income of 10.5 billion tenge, equating to a payment of 256 million tenge.
In early May, it surfaced that Astana residents owed an astounding 3.5 billion tenge in back taxes. In preparation for the summer break, tax authorities urged citizens to settle their tax obligations promptly.
Regarding business taxes, we bring to mind the recently passed new Tax Code by the Mazhilis on April 30th.
"The initial government rate of 20% has been dropped to 16%. The threshold for mandatory NDS registration has been heightened from 15 million to 40 million tenge. Lowered NDS rates have been introduced for medicines and medical services: 5% from 2026 and 10% from 2027," the statement detailed.
Back in February, we reported on the Kazakh budget having accumulated nearly 1.32 trillion tenge in taxes since the start of the year, with a significant portion (208.1 billion tenge) coming from individual income tax. Read more in our article.
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Enrichment Insights:
- Tax inspections often increase due to various factors:
- Sophisticated risk management systems identifying high-risk entities.
- Intensified inspections in response to economic conditions.
- Enforcement of new tax laws or policies to ensure compliance with the latest regulations.
The new Tax Code, recently passed by the Mazhilis, has lowered the initial government rate for businesses from 20% to 16%.
The Deputy Minister, Dauren Kenbeil, clarified that the rise in tax inspections for businesses is not a result of a "harassment" campaign, but rather a list of scheduled inspections based on a risk management system.
