The Tax Committee of Uzbekistan and the IMF discussed the improvement of taxation of the financial sector and the digitalization of administration

The meeting was held by Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee Jakhongir Abdiyev. The IMF mission included Javad Shah, an adviser on technical assistance, and Jean-Francois Ven, an expert.

The visit was organized within the framework of the medium-term technical cooperation program between Uzbekistan and the International Monetary Fund. The main focus is on improving the taxation of the financial sector, reforming the property tax, as well as analyzing current value-added tax benefits for financial services. The work is supported by the Global Public Financial Partnership (GPFP), which unites 14 international development partners.

The key topic of the meeting was the issues of VAT administration in the financial sector. Representatives of the Tax Committee familiarized the IMF experts with the current procedure for taxation of financial services provided for in article 244 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In accordance with the legislation, certain banking, financial, insurance and reinsurance services, as well as a number of securities transactions, are exempt from value-added tax.

Special attention was paid to the further digital transformation of tax administration. Representatives of the Tax Committee presented the implemented and planned measures to increase the effectiveness of tax control and improve the quality of taxpayer services.

In particular, the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies for the automatic analysis of electronic invoices, the transition to automatic VAT refunds for bona fide taxpayers from 2027, the development of a risk-based approach to tax control, as well as the transformation of the Autocameral system into a full-fledged digital service were discussed.

In addition, the IMF mission was informed about the measures to support entrepreneurship implemented this year. Among them is a five-fold increase in the threshold for mandatory registration of VAT payers, as well as the introduction of a simplified VAT payment procedure at a rate of 6 percent for retail, catering and service enterprises.

Following the meeting, the parties confirmed their mutual interest in further expert cooperation and agreed to continue exchanging analytical materials and practical developments in order to improve the tax policy and tax administration of the Republic of Uzbekistan.