Uzbekistan has proposed abolishing the mass tax cashback for purchase receipts and transitioning to more targeted incentive measures, according to a document from the Institute for Reducing the Shadow Economy and Fiscal Analysis under the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The tax cashback was introduced as a temporary tool to foster tax culture, encouraging buyers to demand fiscal receipts and thereby increase transparency in retail trade. The state returned 1% of the purchase amount to citizens, effectively engaging them in public tax control.
According to the authors, this task has been largely accomplished: the habit of taking receipts has formed, and tax authorities have acquired new digital control tools in recent years, including online cash registers, electronic invoices, digital marking, product and service identification, big data analysis, and inter-system data exchange.
However, budget expenditures on cashback payments are rising. According to the data, 820 billion soums were allocated for these purposes in 2022, 1.24 trillion soums in 2023, 1.05 trillion soums in 2024, and 1.51 trillion soums in 2025. The forecast for 2026, based on payments from January to May, suggests expenditures could reach 1.81 trillion soums.
For comparison, the document notes that 900 billion soums are planned for the construction of preschool educational institutions in 2026 — roughly half the projected spending on tax cashback.
The analytical material states that the increase in budget expenditures is no longer accompanied by a proportional rise in tax revenues. As an example, turnover tax revenues grew from 1.65 trillion soums in 2021 to 3.07 trillion soums in 2025, but growth rates slowed after the initial phase of digital tool implementation.
Another argument against mass cashback is that a significant portion of payments goes to purchases in large retail chains operating in the legal sector. Thus, the budget is effectively subsidizing transactions that would occur regardless of cashback.
In May 2026, the total amount of tax cashback was 146.6 billion soums. Of this, 15.7 billion soums, or 10.7%, went to the 10 largest retail brands. The highest cashback was accrued on Korzinka receipts — 9.4 billion soums for 6.87 million checks. Following were Havas — 1.24 billion soums, Olma — 1.2 billion soums, UNG Petro (Carvon) — 824 million soums, Safia — 820 million soums, Afsonalar vodiysi — 761 million soums, KFC — 453.3 million soums, Cheese Day — 349.4 million soums, Makro — 336.5 million soums, and EVOS — 292.9 million soums.
The authors argue that the long-term effectiveness of the tax system should be ensured not by constant material rewards for compliance, but by transparency of economic operations, a high level of digitalization, and the inevitability of detecting violations.
The document also notes that the mass refund has begun to encourage dishonest use of the mechanism. In particular, cases have been recorded of issuing fiscal checks without actual sales, solely to obtain budget rewards.
As an alternative, a shift is proposed from the principle of “every check is incentivized” to “control in the most risky segments of the economy is incentivized.” One option is to hold state lotteries among buyers who register receipts in high-tax-risk areas, including public catering and small retail stores.
According to estimates, such lotteries with large cash prizes, cars, travel vouchers, and other valuable gifts worth over 5 million soums would require up to 100 billion soums per year. This, the document emphasizes, would reduce budget expenditures by almost 20 times.
The authors stressed the need to distinguish the mechanism of targeted VAT refunds for citizens included in the social register from mass cashback. Such a mechanism pursues a social goal — reducing the tax burden on needy segments of the population — rather than stimulating consumer behavior.
The conclusion emphasizes that tax cashback played an important role in forming a modern tax administration system, helped establish a culture of receipt collection, and increased trade transparency. However, the development of online cash registers, electronic invoices, marketplaces, digital marking, big data, and artificial intelligence allows a gradual transition to an “intellectual model” of tax control without constant mass budget incentives.
Source: www.gazeta.uz