The Senate of Uzbekistan approved a law on May 18 that provides for remote tax audits to monitor compliance with mandatory digital labeling of goods. The document has been sent to the president for review.

Before initiating such an audit, tax authorities are required to send two official warnings to the personal account of any taxpayer who has violated mandatory digital labeling rules.

The audit is conducted based on an order from the head of the tax authority or their deputy. The order must include the taxpayer's name and identification number, information about the auditors, the deadline, and the purpose of the audit.

The remote tax audit is set not to exceed five days. The completion date is considered the day the audit report is sent electronically to the taxpayer's personal account.

The tax authority must notify the taxpayer of the date, time, and place for reviewing the audit materials at least two business days in advance.

A decision based on the remote audit results takes effect one month after being sent to the taxpayer via their personal account. The procedure for conducting such audits will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

The law introduces fines for manufacturers, importers, and sellers who violate mandatory digital labeling rules. If a violation is detected through a remote tax audit, the fine will be as follows:

Under the current procedure, a fine of 2% of net revenue from the last reporting quarter is imposed for labeling violations, and for repeat violations, this amount increases to 20%.

The law is reportedly aimed at preventing the production and circulation of illegal products and providing the population with quality consumer goods.

Water and beverage producers have stated that the new aggregation requirements (later postponed for a year) complicated their operations through logistics, distribution processes, and increased costs. Additionally, the imposition of fines of up to 20% even for unintentional errors has caused serious concern among market participants.

Aziz Umirzakov, director of a department at the Tax Committee, announced in early May that the president had proposed reducing these fines. According to him, sanctions will be lowered for producers of labeled goods, wholesale trade, and importers, while for catering and retail enterprises, fines will be set at a fixed amount rather than based on revenue.

In 2025, the turnover of labeled goods reached 199 trillion soums, an increase of 33 trillion soums or 20% compared to 2024.

Source: www.gazeta.uz