Mubin Mirzayev commented on the decline in self-employment

On what grounds were the 34 types of activities to be removed from the list of self-employed persons selected, why is it possible for a baker to do it, but not for a hairdresser? In response to this question from Kun.uz, ​​the Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee said that it is necessary to create equal conditions for everyone. According to him, when reviewing the list, the criterion was based on whether a person can do this work alone.

Starting from January 1, 2026, the types of activities that self-employed persons can do will be reduced from 104 to 72. 34 categories of activities, such as hairdressing, photo and video services, car repair, trading in farmers' markets, preparing and selling sweets and salads, guide-interpreters, realtors, copywriters, tutors, etc., will be deregistered.

So, on what grounds were these 34 categories selected? Why will self-employment be possible for bakers, for example, but not for hairdressers, starting next year?

A Kun.uz correspondent asked this question to officials of the Tax Committee at a press conference at the AOKA.

“We have formed an extensive list of self-employed people. This was done in order to fully legalize the activities of entrepreneurs operating in the republic. We have achieved this result. That is, more than 4 million citizens have become self-employed and started operating by registering in the Soliq mobile application. This is a gratifying figure,” said Mubin Mirzaev, First Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee.

According to him, the second issue is to create equal conditions for entrepreneurs. The list is being shortened "to ensure that they do not enter the illegal way".

"Our goal is not primarily tax revenues. The main priority is to create equal conditions for entrepreneurs of the same category. That is, entrepreneurs need to develop. If there are obstacles to development, we need to correct them. This is being done so that entrepreneurs do not go astray.

Let's assume that there is one store, which is registered as an individual entrepreneur. The owner of the store next to it is self-employed. One pays taxes, the other does not. When there are two different conditions for both, it disrupts the competitive environment, does not provide the opportunity to work. We have formed a list of such, self-employed people can do this work alone, 2-3 people are not needed. This list is currently under discussion in the shadow economy," Mirzaev said.

The tax official noted that a tutor can be self-employed if he works alone, but said that it is impossible for one person to trade in a store, emphasizing that this would be engaging in entrepreneurial activity. However, he did not explain why many types of activities that can be carried out individually, such as tutoring, are being deregistered.

The threshold for becoming a VAT payer will not be increased

Since January 1, 2019, legal entities with an annual turnover of more than 1 billion soums have been paying value added tax. Although 6 years have passed, this amount has not been indexed for inflation. According to Mubin Mirzaev, at that time a high amount was taken and it is planned not to change it in the medium term.

"When the tax concept was being developed in 2019, we set a high limit. We had options of 100 million, 300 million, 500 million and 1 billion soums. In order not to inconvenience many entrepreneurs, we set a limit of 1 billion soums and planned not to change it for at least 5-6 years. At the exchange rate at that time, 1 billion soums was $125,000. Other countries did not have such a high limit, they had $30,000, $50,000, $60,000," said the first deputy chairman of the committee.

Mubin Mirzayev added that there are currently no plans to review this limit. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”