President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed an order Thursday creating a permanent expert commission on improving Uzbekistan’s tax system.

The main objectives of the commission, which will convene at least once a month, will be to study international practice of taxation and to prepare proposals on "bringing Uzbekistan’s tax system in line with standards in the developed world, understandable for foreign investors and stimulating them to invest in Uzbekistan’s economy."

Among other tasks - systematic monitoring of the fulfillment of tax policies, identification of existing drawbacks and bottlenecks, preparing of concrete proposals for optimizing the tax system, including  "distribution of taxes into national and local taxes, simplification of taxation procedure, increasing the role of taxes in stimulating entrepreneurial activity,  careful attitude to land and water resources and the environment".

The commission will study the influence of the existing level of tax burden on the performance indicators of business entities, financial stability of enterprises, payments and settlements in the economy, dynamics of receivables and payables, with further preparation of relevant proposals.

It will also work out methodological issues of determining the tax potential of the provinces, raising revenue base of budgets of all levels, enhancing the interest of financial and tax authorities, as well as local authorities in expanding the tax base and increasing tax collection.

The Commission will be responsible for preparing proposals for optimizing the system and improving the procedure for сreation of state trust funds,  as well as to simplify the tax procedures, optimize the forms and frequency of tax reporting, reduce time and costs for its preparing.

The expert commission was given the right to engage specialists from ministries, departments, economic associations and organizations, as well as independent experts, including foreign experts. Members of the commission may also be seconded to other countries for "a detailed study of international best practices in taxation and preparing of appropriate proposals for its implementation in Uzbekistan."

On July 18, the President signed a decree on fundamental improvement of tax administration in the country.