Galim Khussainov
Inflation and the tengeBankingLending and mortgagesTaxationEconomy and public policyManagement

Taxation · 2 min read

On Mobile Payments and Transfers

Translated from Russian with the help of AI. Original: Russian version

Fiscalizing mobile payments benefits consumers and law-abiding entrepreneurs. Pairing the measure with state loan guarantees tied to taxes paid and with bank access to tax reporting would encourage micro-businesses to leave the shadow economy.

Mobile payments will soon be introduced, which is an absolutely right decision from the standpoint of fiscalizing them. In other words, if a payment is physically made through a mobile transfer system, then under civil law it will be treated as a payment within a contractual relationship, rather than a gratuitous transfer to a third party. For consumers, this means first of all protection under the consumer protection law: if they need to return goods, or if a service was not provided.

For "white" entrepreneurs, meaning those who operate openly and pay their taxes, it simplifies payment administration and the acceptance of payments. There is no need to buy a POS terminal, and a legal option for accepting non-cash payments appears. This will finally give an advantage to entrepreneurs who always pay their taxes, and it will encourage us to buy from those who accept non-cash payments.

From a social standpoint, it is fair. Kazakhstan has a fairly comfortable tax system for small and micro businesses. Of course, the tendency to optimize costs at the expense of tax payments is our most pronounced trait. It will not be possible to bring everyone out of the shadows and make them pay taxes right away. So, at the outset, micro-businesses need to be encouraged to leave the gray zone, and here I would propose giving state guarantees on loans in proportion to taxes paid. For example, if you have paid KZT 1 million in taxes, you receive a state guarantee on loans of KZT 30 million. This would let businesses recoup the amount of those taxes through interest savings, thanks to a lower cost of risk. In other words, at the first stage entrepreneurs would pay taxes as a fee for the guarantee. Of course, such a system must include scoring and clear anti-fraud rules. All of this is easy to put in place.

Also, if banks are given access to tax reporting, which shows companies' entire turnover, this will encourage many to pay their taxes in order to be able to get a loan.

Published in: Ratel.kz, 1 December 2021

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