What tax violations led to additional charges for bloggers?

In the corridors of the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Vice Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin addressed journalists' questions regarding the additional tax assessments for bloggers, reports inbusiness.kz.

According to him, blogging is also considered entrepreneurial activity.

"There are general rules that apply to everyone. If an entrepreneur earns more than 12 MZP per year, they are required to register as an individual entrepreneur and pay taxes. The Entrepreneurial Code contains clear rules stating that once the threshold of 12 MZP is exceeded, there arises an obligation to pay taxes," – said Amrin.

In turn, the Deputy Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Agency, Zhenis Elemesov, responded to journalists' questions about whether bloggers could face criminal liability for tax evasion.

"We are a law enforcement agency. We can register a criminal case only after the authorized body conducts the necessary investigation and provides a report or conclusion that establishes the specific amount of damage to the state due to tax evasion. If the amount of damage caused to the state by a particular blogger exceeds the thresholds set by current criminal legislation, then a criminal case will be registered," – he replied.

If this threshold is not exceeded, they will be held administratively accountable by the same revenue committee, Elemesov added.

It is worth noting that on February 18, it was reported that the revenue committee identified instances of income understatement by bloggers and assessed additional taxes totaling 53.3 billion tenge.