Kazakhstan: Amendments to rules for excess VAT refund

The Ministry of Finance introduced amendments (Decree no. 289 dated 20 March 2023) to the rules for excess value added tax (VAT) refund—effective 7 April 2023.

The amendments include exceptions to the procedure for the verification of suppliers of goods and services using the analytical “Pyramid” report. Specifically, tax violations identified as a result of the Pyramid report will not affect the confirmation of the accuracy of the excess VAT amount, if:

• The understatement of the VAT amount identified by comparing the supplier's VAT declaration and issued electronic VAT invoices does not exceed 10 times the monthly index factors (MIF) on the date of the Pyramid report.
• Discrepancies between the supplier's VAT declarations and information reflected in the buyer's VAT invoice register do not exceed 10 times the MIF on the date of the Pyramid report.
• The VAT payment deadline deferred or changed due to installment VAT payments.
• The identified violations are of low-risk for which the tax authorities send notifications.
• The identified violations are not confirmed upon request to the forwarder or commission agent to take measures to eliminate violations.
• The suppliers eliminated violations in the supply chain of goods, works, and services.

In addition, companies providing services with railway transport facilities are now included on the list of suppliers for whom the Pyramid report is terminated.

The amendments also bring the rules in line with the tax code changes. In particular, the deadline for the VAT refund to taxpayers with a zero-percent turnover not exceeding 70% of total taxable turnover was reduced from 155 calendar days to 75 business days.