informkz.com

Kazakhstan residents face the risk of losing their money before the New Year due to the actions of tax authorities.

From 2021 to 2024, tax audits revealed 7,500 individuals who were not registered as entrepreneurs with the revenue authorities.
Казахстанцы могут столкнуться с финансовыми трудностями перед Новым годом из-за действий налоговых органов.

Kazakhstanis are expressing widespread complaints on social media about tax authorities blocking their accounts without prior notice, often due to errors. Many have already submitted their declarations, but for some reason, the tax authority at their registration location fails to see this data, reports inbusiness.kz. Across the country, people are forced to stand in long lines at tax offices, take time off work, and change their plans to rectify mistakes in their submitted declarations or errors made by tax officials themselves.

Being without money and access to accounts just before the New Year is hardly an ideal situation. Additionally, people are unable to pay their loans or mortgages. And penalties are still in effect—no matter how much you explain that "it's not my fault, it's theirs"… Public outrage over these errors or system failures has not subsided.

To clarify the situation, a correspondent from inbusiness.kz sent a request to the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan a week ago. However, instead of providing a direct response to the journalist, the government agency opted to quickly share its comments with a broader audience. On its own initiative, the State Revenue Committee sent a response to the inbusiness.kz inquiry to all media outlets, likely aiming to address public discontent regarding the actions of tax authorities.

But that’s not the main issue. The question is why it has been problematic for people to submit declarations for several years now. Why do tax authorities keep making the same mistakes repeatedly? Wouldn’t it be easier to simplify the process and eliminate the intermediary agencies that profit from helping those who are not familiar with the system? These agencies take advantage of the situation and charge fees to submit declarations for those who are not knowledgeable about it. If you can't simplify it, then first educate the civil servants on how to correctly submit declarations. There are plenty of them in these "error correction" queues as well.

Who has been subjected to account blocking and why

As is known, the third stage of universal declaration ended in Kazakhstan in 2024. For the first time, this time, declarations were submitted by entrepreneurs—managers, founders of legal entities, as well as individual entrepreneurs and their spouses. Assets were declared both in Kazakhstan and abroad through the "entry" declaration in form 250.00. Citizens who had previously entered the universal declaration system submitted annual declarations of income and property in form 270.00.

In response to our inquiry, the State Revenue Committee stated that as of now, 68,300 individual entrepreneurs and private practitioners have had their accounts blocked due to late submission of declarations, which accounts for 1.4% of the 4.8 million people required to submit declarations for universal declaration. Currently, more than 17,500 taxpayers, or 26% of the total number of issued orders, have rectified their violations and managed to unblock their bank accounts. The obligation to submit declarations for universal declaration in the third stage also applies to entrepreneurs who have suspended their activities or are listed as "inactive."

What declarations are considered not submitted

The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan explained that the deadlines for submitting declarations this year were set from January 1 to September 16, 2024, which totals 8.5 months. During this period, tax authorities actively informed citizens about the need to submit declarations through media, SMS, and other channels.

Some taxpayers did not manage to submit their declarations on time. In such cases, tax authorities send notifications about the non-submission of declarations and provide an additional 30 working days to rectify the situation. Thus, citizens were given a total of 10 months to submit their declarations.

Declarations are considered not submitted if they lack essential information, such as the tax authority code, tax period, or date of preparation. Taxpayers can correct errors by withdrawing the declaration and submitting a new one.

Suspension of operations on bank accounts only affects individual entrepreneurs and private practitioners.

Administrative penalties are imposed for late submission of declarations—the first violation results in a warning. After rectifying the violations, operations on accounts are resumed within one working day.

How to avoid account blocking – recommendations

If a taxpayer submits a declaration late, the state revenue authorities send a notification of non-submission of tax reporting within the established timeframe. After that, an additional period of 30 working days is provided to correct the violation and comply with the notification's requirements.

"To avoid suspension of expenditure operations on bank accounts, it is necessary to respond to the notification, submit the required form of declaration, and if necessary, pay taxes within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the notification. According to paragraph 1 of Article 272 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, non-submission of tax reporting on time results in a warning. In case of a repeated violation within a year, according to paragraph 2 of Article 272 of the Administrative Offenses Code, a fine of 55,380 tenge (15 minimum calculation indicators) is imposed. Taxpayers bear personal responsibility for the timely submission of declarations and the accuracy of the submitted data," the department explained.

The suspension of expenditure operations on bank accounts occurs if the taxpayer fails to fulfill obligations to pay taxes, fines, and penalties, as well as not providing tax reporting.

The State Revenue Committee recommends timely payment of taxes, submission of tax reporting, and compliance with all tax obligations, as well as not ignoring notifications received from tax authorities.

Consequences for tax debtors

Individuals who have not fulfilled their tax obligations within the established timeframe receive notifications of tax debt within 20 working days from the moment the debt arises.

If an individual who is not an individual entrepreneur or engaged in private practice has not paid or partially paid a debt exceeding 1 MRP, tax orders will be sent to recover the debt.

If the debt is not settled within five working days after the issuance of the tax order, the order will be sent for enforcement to the regional chamber of private bailiffs. Private bailiffs, according to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Enforcement Proceedings and the Status of Bailiffs," have the right to apply measures of enforced collection, such as freezing bank accounts and property. Furthermore, if the debt amounts to 40 MRP or more, a travel ban outside the Republic of Kazakhstan may be imposed.

How many individual entrepreneurs are registered and obligated to pay the unified social payment

Earlier, the State Revenue Committee noted that individuals with an annual income exceeding 12 minimum wages are required to register as individual entrepreneurs in accordance with the Entrepreneurial Code. In response to the question about how many Kazakhs had to register as individual entrepreneurs according to these requirements, tax authorities reported that from 2021 to 2024, during tax control, 7,500 individuals without registration with the state revenue authorities were identified.

As a result of the measures taken:

  • 6,700 individuals have been registered as individual entrepreneurs;
  • 474 individuals have been obligated to pay the unified social payment (USP) for a total of 1.3 million tenge;
  • 312 individuals have submitted declarations in form 240.00 for a total of 14.2 million tenge.

What the monitoring of mobile transfers for civil servants revealed

Additionally, it was previously announced that it is planned to supplement control criteria by introducing a limit on the amount of mobile transfers exceeding three minimum wages, as part of efforts to combat the shadow economy. It would be interesting to know how many potentially hidden entrepreneurs in the country this measure to tighten control could reveal and when exactly it will be implemented. Additionally, what the monitoring of mobile transfers regarding civil servants and employees of the quasi-public sector and their close relatives revealed in 2024.

The State Revenue Committee did not disclose details, briefly stating that the issue of revising the criteria for mobile transfers is ongoing. Once the criteria are finalized, the information will be published on the official website of the State Revenue Committee.

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