The Tax Committee of Uzbekistan has published a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers for public discussion, which aims to approve the procedure for banks to provide information on accounts and deposits of legal entities and individuals to tax authorities. The discussion will run until July 8.
The document envisages the launch of an automated module 'Bank-Tax' for information exchange between banks and tax authorities. Through this module, banks would be required to centrally transmit data on clients' accounts, deposits, and transactions.
According to the draft, banks must notify tax authorities within three days of the opening or closing of accounts and deposits of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, as well as changes in their details.
It also proposes providing information on large inflows to individuals' bank cards (p2p transfers). This concerns cases where, during a calendar month, an individual's card receives funds from other individuals or e-wallets amounting to 500 times the basic calculation value (206 million soums) or more.
Transfers from close relatives are exempt. Additionally, transfers between an individual's own cards are not counted.
Banks will also be required to provide information on large transactions of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, self-employed persons, and individuals.
For legal entities, the threshold is set at 1,000 times the basic calculation value (412 million soums) per operational day; for individual entrepreneurs and self-employed persons, it is 500 times (206 million soums). Additionally, data on cash withdrawals exceeding 500 times the basic calculation value must be reported.
Exceptions include payments to the state budget and state target funds, currency conversion operations, certain foreign currency transactions, and salary payments from budget organization accounts.
The Tax Committee's justification for the draft cites international experience in controlling p2p transfers. In Kazakhstan, banks must report to tax authorities if an individual's personal account receives funds from more than 100 different persons for three consecutive months. In Belarus, banks provide data on accounts of individuals whose total incoming transactions exceed 150,000 Belarusian rubles (about $54,000) per year.
The document notes that in Russia, banks send information on individuals' p2p operations to Rosfinmonitoring and tax authorities under Federal Law 115-FZ. In the European Union, payment service providers, including banks and fintech companies, submit data through the CESOP system if a recipient receives more than 25 cross-border payments per quarter.
The draft also requires foreign legal entities providing electronic services to provide tax authorities with information on funds transferred by individuals, if Uzbekistan is recognized as the place of sale of these services. In this case, data must be provided without the payer's personal information.
Tax authorities will be able to send requests to banks for client information. The request must include the client's name, tax identification number (TIN or PINFL), and the period for which data is requested. The request must be signed electronically by the head of the tax authority or their deputy.
Upon receiving such a request, the bank must provide the tax authority with statements on account and deposit transactions, as well as other information related to the fulfillment of tax obligations, within three days. Requests for periods beyond the statute of limitations for tax obligations may be left unfulfilled by banks.
The draft specifically states that the obtained data constitutes tax secrecy and may only be used for taxation purposes in accordance with the Tax Code. Disclosure, personal use, or use in the interests of third parties is prohibited. Tax authorities are responsible for the security and preservation of the obtained data.
In May, Yigitali Narziev, advisor to the Chairman of the Tax Committee, announced that marketplaces and internet platforms would provide anonymized data on goods turnover and online transactions to the Tax Committee.
Earlier, Gazeta reported that under a presidential decree, from January 1, 2026, restrictions are planned for foreign online companies operating in Uzbekistan without registration with tax authorities. They will be given 30 days to register.
In April 2020, the Tax Committee proposed a draft resolution that would require banks to notify tax authorities if more than 30 million soums were deposited into an individual's cards and the number of p2p transactions exceeded 10. The draft was not adopted due to public backlash.
At that time, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a Senate committee stated that the Tax Code did not require banks to inform the Tax Committee about money movements on individuals' cards. The CCI also emphasized the importance of adhering to the law on banking secrecy.
Uzcard argued that the proposal to notify the committee about individuals' cards would lead to new cash withdrawal schemes, an increase in cash turnover, and the flight of business entities to the shadow sector.
Since May 1, 2023, payment organizations have been required to prepare electronic invoices for money transfers between individuals. The Ministry of Justice stated that this clause was absent from the draft presidential decree at the time of its examination.
The Central Bank opposed the preparation of electronic invoices for transfers between individuals, i.e., the transfer of this data to tax authorities. Experts noted that this rule contradicted the law on banking secrecy and the Constitution. Later, this rule was repealed by another presidential decree.
In April 2024, Gazeta learned that the Central Bank and the Tax Committee might start exchanging data if the amount of p2p transfers exceeded a certain limit. Tax authorities wanted to receive information if citizens transferred more than 100 million soums from card to card, and entrepreneurs more than 500 million soums per year.
Source: www.gazeta.uz