The Fiscal Analysis Institute has proposed reducing the profit tax rate for some companies from 2027, as well as taxing a portion of financial services with value-added tax (VAT).
The proposals are included in the main directions of tax policy for 2027, presented by the Institute under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The authors suggest focusing on expanding the tax base, neutrality of taxation, and digitalization of administration. At the same time, they propose maintaining the main tax rates: profit tax — 15%, personal income tax and VAT — 12%.
For certain categories of taxpayers who currently pay profit tax at 20%, the institute proposed reducing it to the generally established 15%. According to the institute's calculations, this reduction would lead to a decrease in budget revenues by 859 billion soums. These losses are proposed to be compensated by expanding the VAT base on financial services.
The institute recommended dividing such operations into commission and margin types. It is proposed to levy VAT on services with a clearly defined commission: account and bank card maintenance, settlement and cash services, acquiring, payment acceptance, commissions on guarantees and letters of credit, currency exchange commissions, bank card processing, depository, registration and exchange services, payment system fees, and the service part of factoring and forfaiting.
Interest and other margin operations are proposed to remain outside VAT: attracting deposits and placing funds, issuing loans, interest on debts, REPO operations, interest part of leasing, discount part of factoring and forfaiting, sale of shares, units, securities and derivative financial instruments, assignment of claims.
The authors refer to international practice, according to which VAT is levied on clearly allocated commissions, while interest margins are usually exempt from tax.
Another source of additional revenue is the digitalization of tax administration and business processes. The institute estimated the current C-efficiency of VAT at approximately 57%. This indicator is calculated as the ratio of actual revenues to the income that could be obtained if final consumption were fully taxed at the 12% rate.
By 2027, it is proposed to bring this indicator to approximately 63%. According to the institute's calculations, this could bring an additional 4.871 trillion soums to the budget. To achieve this, it is proposed to simplify and automate the fulfillment of tax obligations, including the VAT refund process, develop digital control tools and automatic data processing, and digitalize taxpayers' business processes.
It is also recommended to focus control on high-risk taxpayers instead of blanket inspections. The authors expect that increased transparency of operations will reduce hidden turnover and increase VAT collection.
The institute proposed maintaining the basic profit tax rate at 15% in 2027, and personal income tax and VAT rates at 12%. It is also recommended to index all taxes and fees set in fixed amounts in accordance with the projected inflation rate — approximately 5−6%.
To increase predictability for business, it is proposed to announce fixed rates three years in advance. According to the authors, this will allow businesses to plan prices, contracts, and production volumes in advance, reducing regulatory uncertainty.
In the medium term, the institute recommended considering the transition to progressive personal income tax rates. In its assessment, this would strengthen vertical equity of taxation, where citizens with high incomes pay a larger share of taxes.
The institute also analyzed the effectiveness of the reduced social tax rate for eight service sectors. This benefit was introduced by a presidential decree in January 2022 and later extended until 2028. Companies can pay social tax at 1% instead of the standard 12%.
According to the institute, in 2022−2024, about 26.5 thousand companies used this benefit, which is 30% of eligible organizations. The remaining 60.8 thousand enterprises (70%) did not use it. At the same time, 80% of the total benefits went to the largest 10% of companies, while the other 90% received only 20% of the benefits.
The institute believes that the main goal of introducing the benefit — increasing employment and reducing informal employment — was not achieved. According to the authors, the main part of the benefits was used by large enterprises that were already officially operating.
It is noted that the presented initiatives are analytical proposals of the institute and do not have the status of an adopted decision or draft law.
Source: www.gazeta.uz