In Kyrgyzstan, businesses have faced double property tax assessments

In Kyrgyzstan, following the launch of automatic tax assessment for non-residential properties, complaints from taxpayers regarding calculation errors have become more frequent. These errors involve the area being overestimated by a factor of several times and, as a result, the tax amounts being inflated, as well as the imposition of late payment penalties.

On March 1 of this year, the State Tax Service implemented the second phase of the digitalization of tax administration. The new system provides for the automatic assessment of taxes on non-residential property based on data received from the State Agency for Land Resources, Cadastre, Geodesy, and Cartography.

However, in practice, data synchronization between agencies has failed.

According to a complaint from one taxpayer, after the database was updated, the property’s area unexpectedly more than doubled—from 2,000 to 5,000 square meters. As a result, the tax was assessed at triple the amount.

“They charge it right away—and immediately impose a penalty, because the payment deadline has already passed,” he told “Akchabar”.

According to him, attempts to correct the data turned into a “ping-pong” game between the cadastre and the tax office. One agency claims it submitted the correct data, while the other says it works with what it received.

At the same time, even after corrections are made in the cadastre, errors may persist in the system—in some cases, properties are duplicated, leading to duplicate charges.

These problems are accompanied by an increased workload for cadastral authorities. Wait times at branch offices can reach tens of minutes, and to correct data, people must contact specialists who work with databases and enter corrections manually.

In some cases, errors are linked to incorrect property characteristics—for example, the type of building material, which affects the tax rate.

The State Tax Service acknowledges that the accuracy of tax assessments directly depends on the currency of cadastral data. The agency recommends that taxpayers independently verify the information in title documents and their personal accounts.

For its part, the State Agency for Land Resources explains that discrepancies may arise due to differences between the actual and legal data regarding the property. At the same time, the tax is calculated based specifically on the actual characteristics.

Both agencies state that they are working in real-time and conducting data verification in response to citizen inquiries.

Note that the tax on non-residential properties is paid quarterly—by March 20, June 20, September 20, and December 20. However, in the event of system failures, taxpayers risk facing late payment penalties even if there are errors in the database.