No fines for entrepreneurs: The President signed a new decree!

An important document aimed at further liberalizing entrepreneurial activity, reducing excessive pressure on business entities, and fundamentally improving the investment environment has been adopted in Uzbekistan. A special Decree was signed based on the tasks put forward at the 6th open dialogue of the President with entrepreneurs.

Under this decree, starting from January 1, 2027, a number of reliefs and guarantees are being introduced into national business practice.

What will change from January 1, 2027?

According to the new procedure, a system of supporting entrepreneurs rather than penalizing them is being established:

• The principle of "Warning for the first offense": If a business entity commits a violation for the first time and has not caused harm to the life, health of citizens, or the property of others, no immediate financial fine will be applied. Instead, a 10-day period is given to correct the shortcoming;

• Restriction on repeat inspections: Any repeat inspections conducted on the activities of business entities within a 1-year period will be carried out exclusively with the permission of the Business Ombudsman (tax desk audits are an exception).

Two-year legal experiment: Voluntary audit and tax preference

The decree introduces a unique legal testing procedure for medium and large business entities from January 1, 2027, to December 31, 2028:

• Initiative audit: Entrepreneurs can voluntarily conduct an audit regarding the correct calculation of taxes and fees by involving an auditing organization, and this conclusion will be recognized by the tax authority;

• Tax authority will not inspect: State tax authorities will not conduct a re-tax audit for the period covered by the audit;

• 30-day opportunity: If all errors and shortcomings identified in the audit are completely eliminated within 30 days, no financial fines will be applied to the business entity at all;

• Responsibility of auditors: The register of auditing firms participating in the experiment will be maintained on the website of the Tax Committee. If unpaid taxes are detected as a result of an erroneous conclusion, the responsibility falls on the auditing organization.