On state tax service (474-I-son)

29.08.1997

LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

Article 1. Purpose of this Law

This Law defines the legal framework for the activities of the state tax service.

The bodies of the state tax service are created in order to ensure the completeness and timeliness of budget revenues of taxes and other obligatory payments (hereinafter — taxes).

Article 2. Tax control

Tax control is a unified system of accounting for taxpayers, objects of taxation and objects related to taxation, as well as monitoring compliance with tax laws.

Tax control is carried out by the state tax authorities by accounting for taxpayers, objects of taxation and objects related to taxation, revenues to the budget and state trust funds, tax audits and other forms provided for by tax legislation.

Article 3. Bodies of the state tax service

The bodies of the state tax service are the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the state tax departments of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent, as well as the state tax inspectorates of districts, cities and districts in the city.

As part of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a special control and auditing unit is being created to carry out supervisory and documentary audits and audits of the financial and economic activities of taxpayers — legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and individuals, as well as a special unit for the regime and personnel work in the state tax service bodies with their territorial divisions.

The bodies of the state tax service in their activities are guided by the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, this Law, other legislative acts, as well as international treaties of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The bodies of the state tax service carry out their activities independently of government bodies, local government bodies in accordance with the law.

Decisions made by the state tax authorities within their competence are binding on all taxpayers — legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and individuals.

The bodies of the state tax service are legal entities, are maintained at the expense of the republican budget, have a seal with the image of the State Emblem of the Republic of Uzbekistan and with its name.

The structure of the Central Office of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the maximum number of its employees is approved by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The regulation on the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the standard structure of state tax administrations of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent, state tax inspections of districts, cities and districts in the city are approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Article 4. Main tasks of the state tax service

The main tasks of the state tax service are:

implementation of the state tax policy and ensuring control over compliance with tax legislation, the accuracy of calculation, the completeness and timeliness of tax payments;

ensuring the completeness and timeliness of tax revenues to the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan and state trust funds in accordance with tax legislation;

ensuring timely and reliable accounting of taxpayers and objects of taxation, improving the mechanisms for the completeness of their coverage through the widespread introduction of modern information and communication technologies and advanced automated analysis methods in the tax administration process;

analysis and development of effective measures to expand the tax base, including through a systematic analysis of the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators and the tax potential of the regions, the implementation of measures to increase tax collection, the introduction of modern methods of tax control, the implementation of comprehensive measures for the prevention, detection and suppression of tax violations;

suppression of sources of illicit money circulation, ensuring systematic control over the completeness and timeliness of cash withdrawal of cash proceeds by legal entities and individuals engaged in cash settlements with the population;

implementation of measures to improve work with taxpayers, including through the transition to contactless electronic service of taxpayers;

rendering all possible assistance to taxpayers in fulfilling tax obligations;

improvement of work to improve the legal culture of taxpayers aimed at ensuring voluntary payment of taxes;

making suggestions for improving legislation to stimulate the activities of business entities, legal entities and individuals, providing them with the necessary benefits and preferences;

exercising control over the financial and economic activities of markets and shopping malls, their compliance with tax laws and on offenses identified in their territory, conducting an preliminary investigation with the transfer of criminal cases under jurisdiction to law enforcement authorities;

interaction with state and economic management bodies, as well as local government bodies on issues of state budget formation;

the implementation, within its competence, of monitoring compliance with the law when legal and physical persons carry out foreign exchange and export-import operations;

carrying out systematic work on the selection and placement of personnel, staffing the tax authorities with qualified employees with high moral standards, decisively eradicating corruption and a formal attitude to the case, as well as ensuring the prevention of offenses among employees and creating decent working conditions for them.

Article 5. Rights of the bodies of the state tax service

The bodies of the state tax service, within their competence, have the right to:

1) check with taxpayers financial documents, agreements (contracts), plans, estimates, income statements and other documents, including electronic documents related to the calculation and payment of taxes, making mandatory funded pension contributions to individual accumulative pension accounts of citizens, as well as documents related to export-import operations;

2) during tax audits:

examine the territory, production, storage, trading and other premises, including places used by the taxpayer to generate income or related to the maintenance of taxable items;

make an inventory of property and control measurements of work performed, services rendered;

seal cash desks and places of storage of inventory items and documents (including in electronic form);

request documents related to the calculation and payment of taxes;

seize documents (copies, as well as originals), including electronic documents, as well as objects (samples of goods, products, raw materials, materials and semi-finished products), with the exception of documents and objects, the seizure of which leads to suspension of the taxpayer. The seizure of documents and items, leading to the suspension of the taxpayer, is carried out only on the basis of a court decision;

receive explanations from the taxpayer, as well as from persons performing managerial functions or functions of accounting and financial management, other materially responsible employees of the taxpayer;

involve a translator, expert and appoint an expert examination;

demand elimination of revealed violations of tax legislation;

perform other actions provided for by the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan and other legislative acts.

3) carry out checks on compliance with the rules of trade, sales of goods and the provision of paid services, as well as the timely delivery of cash proceeds to the bank;

4) use the data stored in a cash register with fiscal memory when conducting tax audits;

5) independently determine the amount of taxes to be paid to the budget and state trust funds, by calculation on the basis of the information about the taxpayer available to them, as well as data on other similar taxpayers in the event of loss or destruction of accounting documents by the taxpayer;

6) accrue or revise the accrued amount of taxes during the limitation period for a tax obligation;

7) control state bodies and organizations that carry out functions for the collection of taxes, in relation to the correct calculation, completeness of collection and timely transfer of taxes to the budget and state trust funds;

8) take measures in court to suspend operations on bank accounts (with the exception of cases of legalization of proceeds of crime, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction) in cases where the taxpayer impedes a tax audit or refuses to allow officials of a state body tax service for inspection of territories, premises, including places used by the taxpayer to extract income Dov or related to the content of the object of taxation;

81) temporarily suspend, for up to five banking days, operations on bank accounts of business entities engaged in the sale of goods (works, services) without registration of receipt documents;

82) suspend operations on taxpayer accounts with banks in the absence of a taxpayer at the declared address, as well as failure to submit tax and (or) financial statements, justification of discrepancies or revised tax reporting based on the results of cameral control, by the taxpayer in due time. The decision to suspend operations on taxpayer accounts with banks must contain conditions before which operations on accounts in banks are suspended.

9) consider in the manner prescribed by law:

on tax violations and apply financial sanctions to legal entities and individuals. Financial sanctions are applied to business entities in a judicial proceeding, with the exception of cases when they recognize guilty of a committed offense and voluntarily pay amounts of financial sanctions;

on administrative offenses and apply administrative penalties;

10) turn into state revenue in cases and in the manner prescribed by law the inventory items on the revealed facts of tax offenses. The appeal to the state income of the inventory of taxpayers — legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, is carried out in court;

11) file lawsuits against taxpayers to recover illegally obtained funds from the state in the state;

12) send a request to the taxpayer on the need to fulfill his obligation and on measures taken to enforce collection of tax debt;

13) independently submit to the relevant financial authorities a conclusion on the offsetting of amounts of excessively paid taxes to pay off tax arrears, penalties and fines for other types of taxes if the taxpayer fails to submit a written statement, including a statement sent through the taxpayerʼs personal account within ten days from the date tax reporting;

14) require the translation of documents into the state language with notarization in cases established by the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, if they are drawn up in a foreign language;

15) recalculate current payments of corporate income tax on the basis of the actual amount of tax with interest in the case of underestimation of the amount of corporate income tax calculated on the basis of estimated taxable profit, compared with the amount of corporate income tax payable to the budget for reporting period, more than 10 percent.

16) conduct short-term inspections in the territories of markets, shopping malls and adjacent temporary storage areas of vehicles in terms of completeness of receipt and accounting of the collection of a one-time fee, rent, the use of cash registers with fiscal memory, payment terminals for receiving payments by plastic cards, as well as compliance with the rules of trade and the provision of services;

17) Conducting pre-investigation checks on facts of financial-economic and tax offenses detected in the territories of markets, trade complexes, and temporary vehicle storage areas adjacent to them; initiating criminal cases based on those checks; and transferring the criminal cases to law enforcement agencies according to their jurisdiction for further investigation.

The bodies of the state tax service also have other rights provided for by this Law and other legislative acts.

The rights provided for in paragraphs 1 — 7 of the first part of this article are granted in the prescribed manner to officials of the state tax service bodies, paragraphs 8 — 15 — only to heads of state tax service bodies and their deputies, and paragraphs 16 and 17 — to officials of authorized units of the bodies state tax service.

The bodies of the state tax service are exempted from payment for services (work) provided by state statistical, information, archival, reference and other organizations for the issuance of data on taxpayers.

Article 6. Obligations of the bodies of the state tax service

The bodies of the state tax service are obliged to:

1) carry out state control over compliance with tax legislation, the accuracy of calculation, the completeness and timeliness of paying taxes to the budget and state trust funds, as well as the correctness and completeness of the calculation and timeliness of making mandatory funded pension contributions to individual accumulative pension accounts of citizens, comply with the requirements of this Law and other legislative acts;

2) protect the rights and legally protected interests of taxpayers;

3) ensure complete and timely accounting of taxpayers, objects of taxation and objects related to taxation, accrued and paid taxes, as well as monitoring compliance with the procedure for entrepreneurship by individuals;

4) inform taxpayers about their rights and obligations when conducting tax audits, as well as comply with the requirements of laws and other regulatory legal acts on streamlining audits;

5) inform taxpayers of the results of inspections;

6) promptly bring to the taxpayers acts of tax legislation;

7) collect, analyze and evaluate facts of violation of tax legislation and submit proposals to the relevant authorities on eliminating the causes and conditions conducive to tax violations;

8) develop and implement, together with law enforcement agencies, long-term and ongoing programs to combat tax violations;

9) carry out checks of statements, messages and other information about violations of tax legislation;

10) keep records, evaluate and control the transfer of treasures and property transferred by right of inheritance to the state or self-government bodies of citizens;

11) monitor the completeness and timeliness of the receipt of funds in state revenue from the sale of property turned into state revenue, as well as accounting for property transferred free of charge to state bodies;

12) transfer materials to the prosecutorʼs office, internal affairs, the State Security Service and the courts on facts of violation of the law in cases where the resolution of the issue falls outside the competence of the state tax service;

13) carry out, within the limits of its competence, control over compliance by taxpayers — legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and individuals with the established procedure for foreign exchange and export-import operations;

14) keep the confidentiality of information about the taxpayer in accordance with the law;

15) monitor the activities of subordinate units;

16) at the request of the taxpayer, draw up an act of reconciliation of the fulfillment of the tax obligation to pay taxes;

17) send a written notification to the debtor of the taxpayer, including a notification through his personal account of the taxpayer about the presence of payables with the application of a reconciliation statement of mutual settlements for signing and copies of documents submitted by the taxpayer in support of this debt;

18) carry out the self-offsetting of the excessively paid amount of tax to pay off penalties and fines for this type of tax without a taxpayer statement and within three business days from the date of the offset to notify the taxpayer in writing, including through his personal taxpayer account;

19) collect in an indisputable manner the amount of tax debt in accordance with the law;

20) recover the amounts due to the taxpayer from his debtors;

21) register a legal entity and individual, including non-residents of the Republic of Uzbekistan, of an individual entrepreneur, including as payers of insurance contributions to state trust funds (for entities that are payers to the corresponding state trust funds), assign them a tax identification number (TIN) and officially report it to the statistical and registration authorities;

22) upon identification of taxpayers who are not registered with the state tax service, submit to them a requirement for registration in the prescribed manner;

23) transfer all materials when changing the permanent place of residence of an individual relating to this taxpayer to the state tax service in the new place of residence;

24) at the request of the taxpayer, issue a certificate confirming the registration of this taxpayer, including indicating the changed credentials;

25) when accepting tax reports submitted on an explicit basis, at the request of the taxpayer, make a note on the date of acceptance of the statements on the copy of tax reports, and when accepting tax reports in the form of an electronic document on telecommunication networks, transmit to the taxpayer a confirmation of acceptance of the statements in electronic form;

26) provide, at the request of credit bureaus, information on taxpayer credentials, as well as their financial statements.

27) inform the heir (s) of the presence of tax debt in the event of the death of an individual having tax debt, within thirty days from the receipt of information about the heir (s) of the deceased at the place of registration of the individual and (or) the location of his property.

The bodies of the state tax service also bear other obligations in accordance with the law.

Article 7. Interaction of bodies of the state tax service with other bodies and organizations

The bodies of the state tax service carry out the tasks assigned to them in cooperation with other state bodies of government, local government bodies, citizens' self-government bodies, law enforcement, statistical and financial bodies, banks and other organizations. The specified bodies and organizations are obliged to assist the state tax service in the implementation of state control over compliance with tax laws and in the fight against tax violations.

The bodies of the state tax service, law enforcement, financial authorities, banks, in the manner determined by agreement between them, inform each other, including using interdepartmental electronic interaction, about available materials on tax violations and about measures taken to prevent them, about inspections, and also exchange other information in order to fulfill the tasks assigned to them.

The State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, within its competence, adopts legal acts affecting taxation in accordance with tax legislation.

In order to ensure taxpayer accounting and tax compliance, banks:

1) they can open settlement and other accounts for business entities only upon presentation of a document on their registration with the state tax service, and they inform this body no later than the next day about the opening of these accounts;

2) if business entities do not fulfill their obligations to the budget, close settlement and other accounts of these entities in accordance with a court decision;

3) execute orders (collection orders) of the state tax service bodies on the indisputable collection of tax and penalties from client taxpayers that are not paid on time proportionally according to executive documents providing for the transfer or issue of funds from the account to satisfy claims arising from labor legal relations, on the collection of alimony, on the payment of remuneration under copyright agreements, as well as on compensation for harm caused to life and health;

4) if funds are available from the client taxpayer, the amount of taxes and penalties shall be credited to the budget income on the day transactions are debited from his current or other account;

6) at the written request of the state tax service authorities suspend operations on the issuance, transfer or debit of funds from settlement or other accounts of taxpayers-clients. Suspension of operations on bank accounts is carried out in court, with the exception of cases provided for in paragraph 8 of the first part of Article 5 of this Law.

7) in the manner prescribed by law, allow officials of the bodies of the state tax service to verify transactions performed on:

settlement or other accounts of legal entities;

deposit and other accounts of individuals;

8) submit to the state tax service bodies, upon their written request, data on transactions made from settlement or other accounts of client taxpayers during the requested period and on the availability of funds in these accounts;

9) submit, upon a written request of the state tax service authorities, information on the execution of export-import contracts and other information established by law.

10) submit information within three business days from the date of closing of accounts of enterprises in connection with their failure to carry out financial and economic activities with cash transactions in bank accounts for six months (by trading and intermediary enterprises — within three months) to the state body tax service at the place of their registration for the study in the prescribed manner of questions about the appropriateness of further continuation of their activities.

11) in cases stipulated by law, also provide other information to the state tax service bodies.

Banks are prohibited from delaying the execution of orders from client taxpayers to transfer taxes, as well as penalties.

In case of non-fulfillment (delay in execution) due to the fault of the bank, the instructions of the client taxpayer or the state tax service body for the transfer of taxes from the bank and other financial and credit organizations, a penalty is charged in the prescribed manner in the amount of 0.5 percent for each day of delay from the unpaid amount of taxes.

Article 8. Officials of the state tax service

The officials of the state tax service in the performance of official duties are representatives of state authority. Requirements of officials of the state tax service to comply with tax laws are binding on all legal entities and individuals.

No one has the right to interfere in the legitimate activities of officials of the state tax service. Obstruction of officials of the state tax service of their official duties, insulting their honor and dignity, resistance, threat, violence or encroachment on life, health and property in connection with the exercise of their official duties entail liability under the law.

Article 9. District tax inspector

In order to ensure the completeness and timeliness of accounting for taxpayers, objects of taxation and objects related to taxation, the institute of district tax inspectors is organized in the state tax service. The boundaries of the plots, as well as the number of local tax inspectors, are determined by the standards established by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Local tax inspectors in the fixed area carry out the appropriate work on accounting of individuals — payers of property tax and land tax, as well as individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activity, and monitor the timely payment of taxes due by them.

Article 10. Appointment of officers of the State tax service

The Chairman of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be approved by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan upon the submission of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, following approval by the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and shall be released from office by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Vice-chairmen of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, heads of state tax departments of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent are appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The following officials shall be appointed by order of the Chairman of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan: Deputy heads of the State Tax Directorates of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions, and the city of Tashkent; Heads of departments of the State Tax Directorates of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions, and the city of Tashkent; Officials of the Internal Audit, as well as the Personal Security Departments within the State Tax Directorates of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions, and the city of Tashkent;The Head and Deputy Heads of the Interregional State Tax Inspectorate for Major Taxpayers; Heads of departments of the Interregional State Tax Inspectorate for Major Taxpayers; Officials of the Personal Security Department of the Interregional State Tax Inspectorate for Major Taxpayers; Heads of the State Tax Inspectorates of districts (cities).

Officials of bodies of the state tax service not listed in parts one to three of this article shall be appointed by the head of the relevant body of the state tax service.

Article 11. Special ranks of officials of bodies of the state tax service

The following special ranks are assigned to officials of the state tax service in accordance with the positions held by them and their work experience:

Chief State Advisor of the Tax Service;

State Advisor of the Tax Service with I rank;

State Advisor of the Tax Service with II rank;

State Advisor of the Tax Service with III rank;

Advisor of the Tax Service with I rank;

Advisor of the Tax Service with II rank;

Advisor of the Tax Service with III rank;

Inspector of the Tax Service with I rank;

Inspector of the Tax Service with II rank;

Inspector of the Tax Service with III rank;

Inspector of the Tax Service.

The procedure for awarding and depriving special ranks is determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Article 12. Appeal of actions and decisions of officials of the state tax service

An appeal of the actions and decisions of officials of the state tax service bodies is carried out in the manner prescribed by law.

Article 13. Responsibility of officials of the state tax service

Officials of the state tax service are responsible in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan for:

failure to perform or improper performance of their duties, violation of executive discipline;

non-compliance with the requirements of this Law and other legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan;

causing material and moral damage to citizens, enterprises, institutions and organizations due to unlawful actions (inaction);

a decrease in production volumes and a decrease in the tax base of business entities due to their unlawful actions (inaction);

adoption of decisions that do not comply with the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan;

other offenses.

Losses caused by unlawful actions of tax officials during tax control are subject to compensation in the manner prescribed by law.

Exceeding by employees of state tax authorities of their official powers, as well as failure to fulfill the duties assigned to them entails disciplinary, administrative or criminal liability in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Article 14. Social protection, protection of property and personal non-property rights of officials of the state tax service

The state guarantees social protection for officials of the state tax service.

Officials of bodies of the state tax service are subject to compulsory state insurance at the expense of the republican budget.

In the case of bodily harm or death of officials of the state tax service in connection with their official activities, a lump sum is paid to the family of the deceased or the official of the state tax service in the manner and amount determined by law.

Damage caused to the property of an official of the state tax service in connection with the official activities carried out by him, shall be compensated from the funds of the republican budget with the subsequent recovery of this amount from the guilty persons.

Article 15. Material and social security of officials of the state tax service

The salary of officials of the state tax service bodies consists of the official salary, allowances for special ranks, length of service and other surcharges, determined in the manner established by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Persons who have been awarded special ranks are provided with free uniform according to established standards.

A special fund may be created in the bodies of the state tax service, the procedure for the formation of which is determined by law.

Officials of the State Tax Service bodies shall be granted paid annual leave with a duration of twenty-four working days. Officials of the State Tax Service bodies with a work seniority exceeding fifteen years may be granted additional paid leave with a duration of five working days, and officials with a work seniority exceeding twenty-five years may be granted additional paid leave with a duration of ten working days.

Article 15-1. Provision of living space for officials of the state tax service

Officials of the state tax service recognized as needing housing and improving housing conditions, in the prescribed manner, are entitled to receive living space.

The bodies of the state tax service may have an official housing fund.

Officials of the state tax service for the rental (lease) of residential premises are paid monetary compensation in the manner and amount established by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The officials of the state tax service are granted the right to purchase individual houses or apartments using preferential long-term mortgage loans in the manner determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Article 16. International cooperation

The State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in accordance with the legislation and international treaties of the Republic of Uzbekistan, can establish relations with tax and other bodies of foreign states in order to exchange experience, study and introduce methods for monitoring compliance with tax laws, staff training and other issues.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan I. KARIMOV

Tashkent city,

August 29, 1997

No. 474-I