State Revenue Committee Explains List of Scheduled Tax Audits

The State Revenue Committee has provided an explanation for why more than 400 Kazakhstani companies are scheduled for upcoming tax audits, reports Orda.kz.

On May 23, the Ministry of Finance website published a tax audit schedule for the second half of 2025. The list includes 444 companies.

Among them are major agricultural producers, factories, microfinance organizations, food service chains, and the Kazakh legal entity Yandex.Food. A majority of the companies are now listed as high risk, though many were previously considered low risk.

A request was sent to the State Revenue Committee to clarify why these particular companies were selected and how their risk level was determined.

The committee began by noting that periodic audits based on risk assessment were introduced in 2023, replacing the previous special audit procedure. The method of assigning audits, however, has remained the same.

These are inspections ordered by tax authorities in relation to taxpayers (tax agents) based on the results of an analysis of tax reporting, information from authorized government agencies, as well as information obtained from official and open sources of information,
the State Revenue Committee explained. 

Information used to select audit subjects comes from official and open sources. There are additional selection criteria that are not publicly disclosed. The specific criteria used to compile the audit list remain confidential.

The Tax Code categorizes taxpayers as low, medium, or high risk. While some of the risk assessment criteria are public, the tax authorities also use confidential information:

The risk level is calculated based on assessment criteria that are not confidential information (open criteria) and risk level assessment criteria that are confidential (official) information (closed criteria). It is updated quarterly. Closed criteria were approved by the order of the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee dated December 24, 2024 No. 588-FOU 'On approval of the Procedure for applying the risk management system based on criteria that are confidential information that cannot be disclosed,'
the State Revenue Committee said in its response to Orda's request. 

The "FOU" abbreviation indicates that the document is for official use. As such, it has not been publicly released. This means companies included on the list may not be able to access the specific reasons behind a change in their risk category.

However, the number of audits is clearly defined and limited to the companies listed.

Second inspections are not expected:

In the second half of the current year, one periodic tax audit will be conducted for each taxpayer: 444 audits for 444 taxpayers,
explained the acting director of the State Revenue Committee’s audit department, Dauren Nurgozhaev. 

Original Author: Nikita Drobny