Uzbekistan: Business Environment

Accounting Rules

Tax Year: The fiscal year is the calendar year.
Accounting Standards: National accounting standards (NAS) apply.
Accounting Regulation Bodies: Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan
Accounting Reports: Financial reports must contain balance sheets, results reports (income statements), fixed assets reports, cash flow reports, capital reports, and supporting notes, calculations and descriptions.
Publication Requirements: Enterprises are not required by law to publish their annual report.
Professional Accountancy Bodies: National Association of accountants and audit professionals
Certification and Auditing: The annual audit of the financial health of a company must be conducted by an independent certified auditor. You can contact an external auditor: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A list of auditing organizations is available on the website ofthe Ministry of Finance.
Accounting News

Tax Rates

Consumption Taxes

Nature of the Tax: Value Added Tax (VAT)
Tax Rate: 15%
Reduced Tax Rate: Banking and insurance services, pharmaceuticals, educational services, veterinary services and passenger transportation services provided by the government are exempt.
Generally, the export of goods, international transportation services, and utility services provided to private consumers are zero-rated.
Other Consumption Taxes: Excise tax is imposed on certain types of imported goods (cigarettes, jewellery, petrol, alcohol drinks). Rates vary from 15% to 70%, depending on the type of goods imported.
The excise tax rate on mobile communication services is reduced to 10% from 1 January 2022, whereas mobile communication services are not subject to excise tax starting from 1 January 2023.

Corporate Taxes

Company Tax: 15%
Tax Rate For Foreign Companies: Resident corporations are taxed on their worldwide income. Foreign companies that are considered permanently established entities are subjected to taxes on their profits from activities undertaken in Uzbekistan.
The Uzbeki tax code defines permanent establishment as “any place through which a non-resident carries out entrepreneurial activity in the Republic of Uzbekistan", including activity carried out through an authorised person. Permanent establishment is also existent where a non-resident carries on entrepreneurial activity for 183 days (or more) in any consequent 12-month period.
As of 1 January 2022, net profits (i.e. permanent establishment's taxable income less CIT) are subject to taxation at a tax rate of 10%).
Capital Gains Taxation: Capital gains are treated as ordinary income and are subject to the standard rate of profit tax. Gains are calculated as the difference between the selling price and the net book value of an asset.
Capital gains of non-resident companies are classified as "other" income and subject to withholding tax at a rate of 20%.
Main Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits: Deductions include depreciation, goodwill and certain start-up expenses (considered as expenses for procurement of intangible assets), interests expenses, and bad debts. Charitable contributions are generally not deductible, same as for fines and penalties. Taxes are deductible.
Production wastes and defects within statutory norms, and losses resulting in force-majeure circumstances, are generally deductible.
Losses from the disposal of fixed assets also may be deducted if the fixed asset has been used for at least three years.
Tax losses may be carried forward indefinitely. Loss carrybacks are not allowed.
Other Corporate Taxes: The other taxes applicable to companies include:
- property tax (1.5% for legal entities - was 2% before 2022)
- land tax (fixed fees that vary depending on the quality, location, and level of water supply of each land plot; 0.95% of the standard value for agricultural land - land plots allotted for exploration works are not subject to land tax)
- stamp duties
- water tax (depends on the source of water consumption)
- social tax (12% assessed on total payroll cost related to local and expatriate staff; 25% for budget organisations)
- tax on subsurface users (for companies exploring and extracting natural resources)
- license fee for the use of subsoil for geological exploration (calculated based on the allotted area and types of minerals)
- water usage tax (depending on the source of water consumption).
Other Domestic Resources: State Committee for Taxes; Consult Doing Business Website, to obtain a summary of the taxes and mandatory contributions.

Country Comparison For Corporate Taxation

	Uzbekistan	Eastern Europe & Central Asia	United States	Germany
Number of Payments of Taxes per Year	9.0	13.9	10.6	9.0
Time Taken For Administrative Formalities (Hours)	181.0	226.2	175.0	218.0
Total Share of Taxes (% of Profit)	31.6	36.5	36.6	48.8

Source: Doing Business - Latest available data.

Individual Taxes

Tax Rate

Personal income tax standard rate	12% (20% for non-residents)
Dividends and interest	5% for residents 10% for non-residents

Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits: Generally, under the Uzbeki law there are no deductions. However, certain categories of individuals are either fully exempt from personal income tax (for example, diplomats) or provided with an additional monthly deduction of four amounts of the statutory minimum monthly wage, including veterans, disabled people, widows/widowers with children, and women with many children, among others.
In the case of entrepreneurial activity, expenses and mandatory payments and charges associated with such activities may be deducted.
Special Expatriate Tax Regime: Non-residents are taxable only on income sourced in Uzbekistan, whereas residents are taxed on their worldwide income.
An individual who is present in Uzbekistan for 183 days or more during any 12-month period is considered a resident for tax purposes.
Non-resident individuals are subject to different tax rates (see above).

Double Taxation Treaties

Countries With Whom a Double Taxation Treaty Have Been Signed: See the list of countries with whom Uzbekistan has signed a fiscal convention
Withholding Taxes: Dividends: 0 (for resident individuals, from 1 April 2022 through 31 December 2024)/5% (resident companies)/10% (non-residents, reduced to 5% for companies and 0% for individuals from 1 April 2022 through 31 December 2024 in respect of holdings of stock shares in joint stock companies), Interest: 0 (resident companies)/5% (resident individuals)/10% (non-residents)/0 (from 1 April 2022 through 31 December 2024 on interest income from bonds paind to non-residents), Royalties: 0 (resident companies)/12% (resident individuals)/20% (non- residents)

Sources of Fiscal Information

Tax Authorities: Overview of Uzbekistan's tax measures in response to Covid-19
Ministry of Finance
State Tax Committee
Other Domestic Resources: State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Intellectual Property

National Organisations: Consult the Uzbek Republican Agency for Copyright. Uzbekistan still observes the convention leading to the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Paris Convention (industrial property rights) and the Madrid agreement (trademarks) and the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT).
The patents office of 1993 and the patents given by the ex-USSR must once again be registered as well as the trademarks (subsequent to the passing of a law by the Uzbekistan Parliament).
Regional Organisations: Uzbekistan is not a member of any of the regional organizations in the domain of Intellectual Property but the Uzbek Republican Agency for Copyright maintains links with the WIPO as well as its Kazakh, Kirghiz and Russian counterparts.
Also see the website of the State Patent Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
It may also be useful to consult the following Russian websites:
- The Russian organization for Copyrights.
- Information Portal on Copyrights and Patents in Russia.

National Regulation and International Agreements

Type of property and law	Validity	International Agreements Signed
Patent Copyrights Law of 26th March 2006.	During the lifetime of the proprietor and 50 years after his/her death
Trademark Law on Trademarks submitted, Services and Designations of Origin of 2001	10 years	Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
Design Industrial Designs	20 years
Copyright Copyrights Law and related rights on the website of the Uzbek Republican Agency for Copyrights	50 years	WIPO Copyright Treaty
Industrial Models Industrial Designs.

Legal Framework

Independence of Justice: The Judiciary is not at all independent in Uzbekistan. It is subservient to the President who appoints all judges and can remove them from office at any time.
Equal Treatment of Nationals and Foreigners: The European Commission has often underlined the fact that the absence of a secure judiciary is the main problem for investors. Foreign nationals cannot expect an impartial trail from the country's judicial system.
The Language of Justice: The judicial language used in the country is Uzbek.
Recourse to an Interpreter: Having an interpreter is possible.
Sources of the Law and Legal Similarities: The main source of the law is the constitution of December 1992. Even though the country's legal system is an evolution of Soviet civil law, it lacks transparency. Uzbekistan is a member of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). CIS acts as a symbolic organization possessing only coordinating powers related to trade, finance, lawmaking, and security among the member states.

The Constitution can be consulted online in English on the website of the Uzbek Parliament.
Checking National Laws Online: Website of the Uzbek organization Norma Hamkor, specialized in electronic publishing
Website of the Parliament of Uzbekistan

Standards

National Standards Organisations: Uzstandart- Office of metrology and certification
Integration in the International Standards Network: Uzstandard, the Uzbek agency for standardization, metrology and certification, represents the Republic of Uzbekistan at the following international bodies:
- International Standards Organization (ISO)
- International Organization for Legal Metrology (OILM)
- Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC)
- International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)
For more information, directly contact infocenter@standart.uz
Classification of Standards: Uzbekistan still uses a set of technical norms based on the soviet methods. There are more than 65,000 documents concerning to these norms.
Online Consultation of Standards: Visit the website of Uzstandart.
Certification Organisations

Business Practices

General Information: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan
Uzex, Goods and primary materials Stock Exchange of Uzbekistan
Exchange, Agro-Industrial Stock Exchange of Uzbekistan
Gki, State Committee for public goods
Investuzbekistan, Invest in Uzbekistan
Opening Hours and Days: Public service offices are open from 9h00 to 18h00 from Monday to Friday.
Companies are open from 9h00 to 18h00 or from 8h00 to 17h00 from Monday to Friday
The weekly days off : Saturday and Sunday.
Shops are open every day from 8h00 to 21h00.

Public Holidays

New Years Day	1st January
Military Services Day	14th January
Women's Day	8th March
Navruz	21st March
Victory Day	9th May
Independence Day	1st September
Teacher's Day	1st October
Day of the Uzbek Constitution	8th December

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