Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction proposed postponing the introduction of royalties on solid minerals from 2027 to 2029. The Project Office also considered a proposed PIT exemption for individuals whose problematic loan and microloan obligations were written off.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction proposed deferring the introduction of royalties on solid minerals from 1 January 2027 to 1 January 2029, following discussions at the Project Office for the implementation of the Tax Code on 17 September 2026.
The current Tax Code requires royalties to be paid from 1 January 2027 on sales of mineral raw materials and solid minerals, including processed products, extracted under licences issued after 31 December 2026 in areas where subsoil use rights had not previously been granted.
Further work was considered necessary before the new royalty regime could take effect. This includes determining the tax base for technogenic mineral formations, developing royalty administration procedures and setting rates that reflect the specific features of new licences, project capital intensity and the profitability of associated components.
The Ministry said these issues required intersectoral coordination and testing through financial and economic models of enterprises. Following the discussion, Project Office participants supported moving the implementation date to 1 January 2029.
PIT exemption for problematic debt
The Project Office also considered possible PIT exemptions for individuals whose obligations under loans and microloans were written off.
Existing tax legislation provides mechanisms for CIT treatment of creditors in cases involving forgiveness of hopeless debt, as well as PIT exemptions for certain categories of individuals.
Additional exemptions were being considered for certain borrowers, including those with mortgage housing loans covered by the relevant National Bank programme and cases where loan obligations resulted from established fraudulent actions.
The issue had previously been referred for further work at the 25th meeting of the Project Office, including detailed calculations and the preparation of an exhaustive list of situations in which a PIT exemption could apply.
Problematic household debt
According to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, individuals with loan arrears exceeding 90 days owed approximately KZT 2.5 trillion to banks and microfinance organisations as of 1 July 2026. The number of problematic borrowers stood at about 1.37 million.
Within the banking sector, loans to individuals with arrears exceeding 90 days totalled KZT 1.2 trillion, representing 4.8% of the household credit portfolio.
The Agency also reported that it reviewed 16,400 citizen appeals in June 2026, with 45% related to debt settlement.
The Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan said banks had identified the possibility of forgiving debts for 2,401 borrowers, involving 25 billion tenge in debt. The associated tax effect was estimated at about KZT 2.7 billion.
Proposed exemption mechanism
The Agency proposed reinstating a procedure that had applied until 1 January 2026, under which amounts of debt forgiven by banks, organisations conducting certain banking operations and microfinance organisations were excluded from taxable PIT income.
The proposed mechanism was intended to allow financial institutions to settle hopeless debt without creating additional tax obligations for affected borrowers following debt write-offs.
The Agency, together with the National Bank, relevant government bodies and financial institutions, was tasked with developing a procedure for the proposed PIT exemption.
Options under consideration included a one-time targeted benefit for clearly defined categories of borrowers, taking into account information from the Digital Family Map, or quantitative limits on the amount of debt forgiveness available to financial organisations.
