New Tax Code comes into effect in Kyrgyzstan. The bill has been finally signed by the President Kurmanbek Bakiev after years of heated debates between the Kyrgyz government and business circles, presidential press service reported on October 20, 2008.

“The new Tax Code reportedly contains a number of principle trends of county’s taxation system development, economic challenges to stimulate business growth and investment climate improvement; tax administration improvement; fight with inconsistency and defects in the Kyrgyz tax legislation; harmonization of the tax code with other branches of the law; raising of predictability of tax payments and tax bases’ enlargement though growing number of honest tax payers; tax benefits reduction,” the press service noted.

The new bill clarifies and explains in details fundamental principles of taxation, types and system of taxation, rights, commitments and responsibilities of tax payers and agencies. The bill significantly simplifies tax procedures and calculations and cuts down the number of taxes to pay from 16 to 8.

The new bill is expected to stir up development of several branches of Kyrgyz economy. For instance, mining industry will have a speed up automation of basic funds and taxation regime stabilization.

The new Tax Code of Kyrgyzstan is becoming operational since January 1, 2009.