Since the start of 2026, foreign digital services and marketplaces have transferred 51.5 billion tenge to Kazakhstan's budget. In total, since the introduction of the so-called "Google tax" in 2022, foreign internet companies have paid 178.8 billion tenge.
WHO PAYS THE "GOOGLE TAX"
According to MIA "Kazinform", citing the State Revenue Committee (SRC), as of 1 August 2026, 133 foreign VAT payers are registered in Kazakhstan. These include Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, Adobe, Canva, eBay, Google, Huawei, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Ozon, OpenAI, Pinduoduo, Temu, TikTok, Samsung, Sony and Zoom.
The "Google tax" is a VAT that foreign companies pay when selling goods to Kazakhstani consumers over the internet or providing them with electronic services.
LARGEST TAXPAYERS
In 2025, foreign companies transferred 57.6 billion tenge to the budget. The largest payer was Singapore's Elementary Innovation Pte. Ltd., linked to the marketplace Temu: the company paid 13.3 billion tenge.
In second place was Apple with 11.2 billion tenge, and in third was Valve, which owns the gaming platform Steam, with 10.3 billion tenge. Google transferred 7.3 billion tenge, while iHerb paid 4.9 billion tenge.
HOW MUCH POPULAR ONLINE SERVICES PAID
The top ten largest payers also included Meta, TikTok, AliExpress and other foreign online shops and platforms.
Separately, the SRC data lists payments from a number of popular services for 2025:
- Netflix — 353.9 million tenge,
- Spotify AB — 293.1 million tenge,
- Zoom — 183.2 million tenge,
- Nintendo — 54 million tenge,
- Coursera — 33.2 million tenge,
- Samsung Electronics — 9 million tenge,
- IMDb — 375.7 thousand tenge.
REVENUE GROWS EVERY YEAR
Receipts from VAT on foreign digital companies have increased annually. In 2022, the budget received 10.4 billion tenge, in 2023 — 24.3 billion, in 2024 — 35 billion, and in 2025 — 57.6 billion tenge.
Between the start of 2026 and 1 August, a further 51.5 billion tenge was received. This is almost as much as foreign companies transferred during the whole of 2025.
WHY SOME COMPANIES ARE NOT LISTED AMONG PAYERS
The SRC clarified that VAT is charged when a foreign company sells goods or provides services to Kazakhstani consumers. Therefore, the absence of tax payment data does not mean that a registered company is not a payer: the SRC materials state that during the relevant period it may simply not have sold goods or provided services to Kazakhstani consumers.
