Kazakhstan's new Tax Code — Law No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025 — took effect on 1 January 2026 and rewrote the numbers still circulating in older guides: the simplified rate rose from 3% to 4%, VAT climbed from 12% to 16%, the VAT registration threshold was cut in half, and dividends acquired a progressive scale. Planning a company on 2024–2025 materials means getting every second figure wrong. Data here is as of 26 August 2026.
For a non-resident, the choice of form is decided by migration law before tax law. Access to sole-trader (IP) status is restricted by citizenship and permanent residence, and since 28 May 2024 an individual founder of an LLP (TOO) needs business-immigrant status — unless he holds a residence permit, which Article 40 of the Migration Law excepts outright. In practice the choice almost always comes down to an LLP and a lawful way into it.
Concept
Kazakhstan offers four forms of presence plus the separate legal regime of the AIFC. A side-by-side table is the quickest way in.
| Form | Who can use it | Minimum capital | Tax profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLP (TOO) | foreign individuals with business-immigrant status or a residence permit, and any legal entities; up to 100% foreign ownership | KZT 0 for small business, otherwise 100 MCI | 20% CIT or 4% simplified regime |
| JSC (AO) | same status requirements for individual founders; unrestricted for legal entities | 50,000 MCI (KZT 216.25 mln in 2026) | 20% CIT, mandatory annual audit |
| Branch / representative office | foreign legal entities (record registration, no separate legal entity) | — | 20% CIT + 15% branch profits tax |
| Sole trader (IP) | only permanent residents holding EAEU citizenship (Tajikistan — per official guidance) | — | 4% simplified regime or standard regime |
For private business the working choice narrows to an LLP — and, for financial and crypto projects, to comparing an LLP with an AIFC company: English law, its own court, and tax exemptions for centre participants until 2066, with crypto licensing run by the AFSA — details in the review of Kazakhstan's crypto licences. A JSC makes sense for listings and regulated industries. A representative office may not conduct commercial activity; a branch works, though it repatriates profit expensively — more below.
The LLP and the AIFC company differ on six points.
| Axis | LLP (TOO) | AIFC private company |
|---|---|---|
| Law | Kazakh civil and entrepreneurial law | AIFC Acts on the principles of the law of England and Wales |
| Disputes | Kazakh state courts | AIFC Court and the International Arbitration Centre; judgments enforced with no recognition step |
| Tax | 20% CIT or 4% simplified; VAT 16% | 0% CIT and VAT on listed financial services to 01.01.2066; other income on general terms |
| Licence | national regulator where the activity needs one | AFSA, from $7,000 (managing investments) to $98,000 (crypto exchange) per application |
| Substance | no resident director; banks test the reality of the business | registered office in the centre; CIGA, expenses and headcount in the centre to keep the relief |
| Registration | one business day on egov, near-zero state fee; KZT 0 capital for small business | $500 online ($1,500 on paper), no minimum capital |
For trade and ordinary services the AIFC adds English contract law and its own court but no tax saving, so the LLP stays cheaper; for regulated financial business the balance flips, as the AIFC review sets out alongside DIFC, ADGM, QFC and GIFT City. How a Kazakh LLP compares with other operating companies a non-resident runs from abroad is covered in operating vehicles for non-residents.
The regime's key parameters sit in one table.
| Rule | Tax Code No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025, in force from 1 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Who is caught | LLP — a foreigner with business-immigrant status or a residence permit, and any legal entity; IP — permanent residence plus EAEU citizenship |
| VAT threshold | 10,000 MCI = KZT 43.25 mln of turnover |
| Simplified cap | 600,000 MCI = KZT 2.595 bln of income a year |
| Rates | CIT 20%, VAT 16%, simplified 4%, social tax 6% |
| Dividends to non-residents | 15%; 5% up to 230,000 MCI for a holder of 25% or more; 20% for privileged-tax jurisdictions |
| Registration time | one business day on the egov portal once the IIN and EDS are in hand |
| As of | 26 August 2026; MCI KZT 4,325 |
Sole trader (IP): who qualifies
Only a foreigner holding permanent residence may register as an IP — and only a citizen of an EAEU state; official guidance extends the same access to citizens of Tajikistan. The Code itself draws the bar wider: individual entrepreneurship is the activity of citizens of Kazakhstan and kandas, and "other individuals are prohibited from carrying on individual entrepreneurship" (Article 30(1) of the Entrepreneurial Code); the admission of EAEU citizens rests on an international treaty — the EAEU Treaty — rather than on the Code.
Other foreigners cannot obtain IP status even with permanent residence; without it, no one can. For an EAEU citizen (Russians included) the sequence is simple: first a residence permit, then IP status. There is no tax reason to rush: an IP on the simplified regime pays the same 4% of turnover as an LLP.
LLP: entry for a foreign founder
The key rule is Article 40 of the Migration Law: creating a legal entity or taking a stake in the capital of a commercial organisation is barred to foreigners who hold neither an entry visa nor a temporary residence permit as business immigrants — with an express exception for immigrants holding a foreigner's residence permit or a stateless person's certificate. A permanent-residence holder therefore needs no business-immigrant status. Since 28 May 2024 the status is checked both at LLP registration and on the purchase of a stake in an existing one, for anyone outside that exception: EAEU citizens need a business-immigrant temporary residence permit (RVP); everyone else needs a C5 visa, with two months to register after entering on it.
The requirement targets individuals. A foreign legal entity founder registers a Kazakhstan subsidiary without any visa status — which is how groups usually enter: the parent company incorporates the LLP, and people are hired later on work grounds. One hundred percent foreign ownership is allowed either way.
Registration: the procedure
Registration itself is fully online; the time goes into identifiers and migration status. The sequence:
- IIN — for every individual founder and the director; a foreign corporate founder obtains a BIN. Issued at a public service centre in Kazakhstan or remotely through consulates.
- Digital signature (EDS) of the National Certification Authority — issued against the IIN, including remotely with biometrics.
- Migration status of an individual founder: a business-immigrant RVP (EAEU) or a C5 visa (others). Residence-permit holders skip this step; the other alternative is incorporation through a legal entity.
- Application through the egov portal: charter (model or bespoke), legal address (a participant's home address is acceptable), activity codes, director. State registration of a small or medium-sized legal entity takes one business day; the BIN is assigned automatically.
- Tax settings: tax registration happens automatically; the simplified regime is chosen by notification; VAT registration follows once the threshold is crossed.
- Bank account: with online incorporation the account application goes to the bank together with the registration filing; actual opening comes after the bank's compliance review.
- Work permits for a director and foreign employees without permanent residence — a separate procedure after launch.
Refusals are usually driven by a missing business-immigrant status, address defects, or sanctions hits on founders; once the cause is cured, the application is refiled.
Director and substance
There is no resident-director requirement: an LLP can be run by a foreigner living abroad — an IIN and an EDS are enough. If a foreign director works on Kazakhstan territory without permanent residence, the employer goes through the permit procedure — a foreign-labour permit; EAEU citizens work without permits under the EAEU Treaty. A real office and management from Kazakhstan gain weight when treaty relief is claimed and in bank compliance: an empty company with a foreign beneficial owner now gets tougher scrutiny from banks than from the tax service.
Taxes 2026: simplified regime vs standard regime
The new code kept three special regimes: for the self-employed, the simplified declaration, and the regime for agricultural producers. For small and medium business the real choice is the simplified declaration versus the standard regime (OUR); the parameters sit best side by side.
| Parameter | Simplified declaration | Standard regime |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | 4% of turnover (was 3%); local councils may adjust the rate within ±50% | CIT 20%; sector rates below the table |
| Revenue limit | 600,000 MCI = KZT 2,595,000,000/year | none |
| VAT | no registration | 16% (was 12%), registration threshold 10,000 MCI = KZT 43.25 mln |
| Reporting | semi-annual declaration | annual CIT return, quarterly VAT |
| Social tax | abolished | 6% (down from 11%) |
Sector CIT rates: second-tier banks (other than taxable income from lending to business entities) and gambling — 25%, the social sector — 5% (10% from 2027), agricultural producers — 3%.
The simplified regime's main trap is the anti-B2B rule: a buyer on the standard regime cannot deduct purchases from a simplified-regime supplier for CIT purposes, so corporate clients avoid such vendors. The regime is effectively built for B2C. Export-service businesses with corporate contracts take the standard regime: 20% CIT, 16% VAT, and full access to deductions and treaties. The MCI for 2026 is KZT 4,325, so every tenge threshold has risen with it.
Payroll charges for 2026 split between employee and employer as follows.
| Charge | Payer | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal income tax | employee | 10% up to 8,500 MCI of annual income, 15% on the excess |
| Pension | employee | 10% |
| Medical | employee | 2% |
| Employer pension | employer | 3.5% |
| Social insurance | employer | 5% |
| Medical | employer | 3% |
| Social tax | employer | 6% |
Small business may replace the stack with a single payment of 24.8% (the 2026 rate).
Dividends and profit extraction
The withholding rate turns on the recipient and the size of the holding.
| Recipient | Rate | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident, general case | 15% | art. 682(1)(5) of the Tax Code |
| Non-resident holding 25% or more, directly or indirectly | 5% up to 230,000 MCI, 15% on the excess | art. 682(1)(6) |
| Person registered in a state with privileged taxation | 20% | art. 682(2) |
| Russian resident under the treaty | 10% on a residency certificate and beneficial ownership | Kazakhstan — Russia treaty |
Treaties cut the rate only where the domestic one is higher: for a controlling shareholder the domestic 5% beats the treaty's 10%.
For resident individuals dividends bear 5% personal income tax up to 230,000 MCI a year and 15% on the excess. The new code contains no holding-period exemption for dividends at all: the over-three-years, non-subsoil-user relief survives only for capital gains on the disposal of shares and participation interests (art. 400(1)(4)), and with no MCI cap. The only dividend exemption is for securities on the official list of a Kazakhstan stock exchange that were actually traded during the year (art. 436(13)). Resident legal entities exclude received dividends from aggregate annual income.
A branch pays the branch profits tax instead of dividend withholding: 15% on top of CIT, up to a combined 32% effective burden; treaties usually bring this rate down to the dividend level. On repatriation taxes a subsidiary LLP nearly always beats a branch, so branches are chosen for non-tax reasons — contracts and licences in the parent company's name.
Bank account and compliance
Banks open accounts for LLPs with foreign participation once the BIN is assigned; with online incorporation the account application is filed simultaneously via egov. Sanctions compliance extends to corporate flows: SWIFT payments from sanctioned Russian banks do not arrive; structures with Russian beneficial owners face enhanced review — the logic of the restrictions is mapped in the sanctions map.
Corporate banking is covered by Halyk, Bank CenterCredit and Forte; Freedom pairs banking with brokerage infrastructure, and Alatau City Bank runs a digital-first business offering. Retail for the founder, and the choice between them, is compared in Kazakhstan banks for non-residents. The banking landscape as a whole sits in the Kazakhstan hub. Solo founders and creators combining an LLP with relocation will find the pairing in the review of creator relocation.
Reporting and audit
On the standard regime: an annual CIT return (due by 31 March of the following year) and quarterly VAT reporting; payroll taxes and contributions are paid monthly. The new code moved CIT advance payments to the tax authority, which now assesses them automatically at 1/12 of the prior year's tax; companies with income under 600,000 MCI are exempt. The simplified regime files twice a year. A mandatory annual audit applies to JSCs, banks, insurers, and other financial organisations; an ordinary LLP audits voluntarily — for an investor, a bank, or a group.
Risks
Q/A
Can an EAEU citizen register as a sole trader in Kazakhstan?
Yes, but only after obtaining permanent residence: IP status is open to permanent residents who are citizens of an EAEU state (official guidance extends this to Tajikistan). Until then the only form is an LLP with business-immigrant status.
Can an LLP be registered without coming to Kazakhstan at all?
Yes, if the founder is a foreign legal entity: the visa requirements of Article 40 do not apply to it, and the IIN/BIN and digital signature are issued remotely. An individual founder needs business-immigrant status (an RVP or a C5 visa) unless he holds a Kazakhstan residence permit — Article 40 expressly excepts permanent-residence holders.
How long does registration take and what does it cost?
State registration itself takes one business day on the egov portal and costs next to nothing. The budget and the calendar go into preparation: the IIN, the digital signature, and the founder's migration status — from a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending on citizenship.
When must an LLP register for VAT?
On the standard regime — above 10,000 MCI of turnover (KZT 43.25 mln in 2026), at a 16% rate. Simplified-regime businesses do not register for VAT.
Why is the simplified regime a poor fit for B2B?
A buyer on the standard regime cannot deduct purchases from a simplified supplier for CIT — corporate clients avoid such vendors.
Branch or subsidiary LLP?
A branch pays 20% CIT and the 15% branch profits tax — up to 32% combined. A subsidiary LLP pays 20% CIT plus dividend tax: 15% generally, or 5% up to 230,000 MCI for a shareholder holding 25% or more (art. 682(1)(6)); the Russian treaty's 10% helps only those outside that scale. On profit-extraction taxes the LLP nearly always wins; a branch is chosen for contracts in the parent company's name.