At the plenary meeting of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the draft law “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the adoption of the main directions of tax and budget policy for 2023” was considered.
It was noted that in recent years, in order to support entrepreneurship and create equal competitive conditions in the country, systematic work has been carried out to reduce the tax burden and further improve tax legislation.
The draft law provides for a reduction in the value added tax rate, the unification of turnover tax rates, and the indexation of tax rates set in absolute terms based on the expected level of inflation.
In particular, in the tax policy established for 2023, the main tax rates have been left unchanged: the base income tax rate is 15 percent, the personal income tax is 12 percent, and the corporate property tax rate is 1.5 percent.
Also, excise tax rates on tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and petroleum products, on land and property, for the use of water resources and a tax of fixed amounts for individual entrepreneurs are indexed by almost 10%, taking into account inflation.
It was noted that the bill provides additional benefits for businesses based on the tasks identified by the President as part of the “Open Dialogue” held with entrepreneurs.
That is, the value added tax rate (VAT) will be reduced from 15% to 12%, and income tax rates will be reduced 2 times within one year for taxpayers whose total income for the first time exceeded 1 billion soums, and also within two years for taxpayers, the total whose income for the first time exceeded 10 billion soums.
The document also provides for the unification and establishment of a turnover tax rate of 4 percent for all categories of taxpayers. At the same time, the current reduced tax rates remain. In addition, a single rate of turnover tax is being introduced. That is, the entrepreneur is exempted from the obligation to submit financial statements to the tax authorities and pay taxes on income in the form of dividends.
In addition, in order to create additional benefits for the population and business entities, the amount of tax-free income will be increased when individuals send their income to repay mortgage loans from the current 15 million soums to 73.6 million soums. In this case, the requirement for the value of the house is cancelled.
In order to develop medium-sized businesses, the bill grants them the right to interest-free installment payment of tax obligations for a period of 6 months. Also, the deadline for collecting tax debts at the expense of property is extended to 60 days.
According to the deputies, the adoption of the bill will serve to further improve the business environment in our country, improve the conditions for doing business and the well-being of the population.
After heated discussions, the bill was adopted by the deputies.