Dear Readers,
The tax authorities plan to extend the terms of the Tax-Free Pilot Project[1] till 1 July 2023 and expand the implementation area of the project. The Tax-Free Pilot Project has been implemented on the basis of the Esentai Mall trade center in Almaty and the Almaty International Airport since August 2019.
Under to the proposed amendments, the list of participants of the Tax-Free Pilot Project will be expanded by additional 12 trade centers in Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Turkestan. Accordingly, the Tax-Free Pilot Project will be realized in the international airports of Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Turkestan.
The VAT reimbursement procedures will stay the same. The tax-free system operator (Global Blue company) will reimburse an individual buyer for the VAT paid in Kazakhstan, if the all of following conditions are met:
- The buyer is a citizen of a foreign state that is not a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union;
- The purchased goods are exclusively non-food products and the buyer acquired them from an entity engaged in trading activities in a trade center-participant of the Tax-Free Pilot Project;
- The buyer presented to the operator a “tax-free” document (a receipt) properly completed and stamped by the state revenue authorities seal;
- The total price of the purchased goods indicated on the tax-free documents (receipts) exceeds 20 times the monthly index factor;
- The buyer exports the purchased goods outside the Eurasian Economic Union through a checkpoint at the state border of Kazakhstan in the international airports of Almaty, Nur-Sultan or Turkestan;
- The period from the receipt date to the application for the VAT refund does not exceed three months.
The State Revenue Committee informs taxpayers that the draft amendments are under the approval process in the Ministry of Justice.
1 Order No. 871 of the Acting Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Approval of the Rules and Deadlines for a Pilot Project on VAT Refund to Foreigners Exporting Goods Outside the Eurasian Economic Union, Except for Exportation of Goods through the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union (the Tax-Free Pilot Project), dated 13 August 2019