At a government meeting today on problems in the standardization and certification system, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed to lift barriers for the food industry.
He gave instructions to scrap the 20% excise tax on sugar, introduced in 2021, and to lift restrictions on the import of dry milk in order to support the development of the confectionery industry and the production of soft drinks, which have become some of the drivers of the local economy.
These measures are expected to help increase the annual turnover of 5,500 enterprises in the industry to 50 trillion soums. These companies employ about 40 thousand people.
A system for returning part of the VAT for restaurants and bars was also discussed. Year-to-date, a mechanism has been in place under which they are refunded from 20% to 40% of the tax paid in the form of cashback. However, in practice, only 69 venues were able to take advantage of this measure.
Reportedly, when selling more than 200 types of goods separately - including drinks, cakes and ice cream - cashback is not accrued, despite the payment of tax.
The State Tax Committee has been tasked with eliminating these discrepancies and introducing a fair VAT refund mechanism.
