Kazakhstan's State Revenue Committee says Pinduoduo has paid KZT 6.8 billion into the state budget and Anthropic KZT 1.2 billion, while access to Farfetch has been restricted in the country after its operator ignored a tax notice.
According to figures released by the committee, part of the Finance Ministry, on October 19, the Chinese marketplace Pinduoduo transferred KZT 6.8 billion (about $15.1 million) following tax administration. The committee did not specify the type of tax or the periods covered.
Anthropic, PBC, the developer of the Claude AI assistant, paid KZT 1.2 billion (about $2.6 million) for prior tax periods after complying with notices issued as a result of a camera (desk) audit. Together the two companies paid roughly KZT 8 billion.
Farfetch went the other way. The committee sent a camera audit notice to the platform's UK-registered operator; the notice was not complied with, and access to the Farfetch website in Kazakhstan has been restricted. Farfetch is an international online marketplace for clothing, footwear and accessories, including well-known brands. The committee said such measures apply, under the procedure set by law, to every foreign platform that falls under the rules and fails to meet its tax obligations in Kazakhstan.
Background: the "Google tax"
Since 2022, foreign internet companies selling goods or electronic services to individuals in Kazakhstan have paid VAT there, a levy known locally as the "Google tax". According to the committee, they paid KZT 69.3 billion in 2026 up to mid-September, compared with KZT 57.6 billion for the whole of 2025. The number of registered foreign platforms has reached 138.
The legal basis
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The rules sit in the Tax Code of July 18, 2025, No. 214-VIII, in force since January 1, 2026, which replaced the 2017 code.
Article 102 provides for simplified ("conditional") VAT registration: a foreign company submits a confirmation letter and is entered in the register of foreign VAT payers.
Article 826 makes such a company liable for VAT on e-commerce sales of goods and electronic services to individuals where the buyer lives in Kazakhstan, pays through a Kazakh bank or e-money operator, or uses a Kazakh network address; any one of these is enough.
Article 827 applies the rate in Article 503 (currently 16%) and requires quarterly payment no later than the 25th of the second month after the quarter.
Article 84 lists restricting access to a foreign company's websites and/or online platform among the tools for enforcing tax obligations.
Article 89 says the tax authority issues a restriction decision when a foreign platform fails to comply with either a registration notice or a notice of discrepancies found in a camera audit. The decision goes to the media regulator within three working days, which then restricts access within another three working days. The restriction is lifted once the company fixes the problem.
Farfetch's case falls under the second ground in Article 89: an unanswered camera audit notice.
What it means for Chinese companies
Chinese businesses selling into Kazakhstan online or providing digital services, whether as platforms or as sellers of subscriptions and online services, are squarely covered. Registration is triggered by sales to Kazakh individuals and does not depend on having a local entity. There are several tests for a Kazakh buyer, and meeting one is sufficient. The committee cross-checks data through camera audits, and ignoring a notice can mean the website being blocked, which cuts off the online sales channel entirely. The Pinduoduo and Anthropic cases show that discrepancies from past periods are pursued too.
Three questions to check internally:
1. Has the company completed conditional registration under Article 102, and do the register details match reality?
2. Do declared sales to Kazakh customers reconcile with internal data by residence, bank or e-wallet, and IP address, and is the 16% rate applied from 2026?
3. Is there a named person or representative who receives notices from the State Revenue Committee, including on past periods, and answers them on time?
Source: State Revenue Committee of Kazakhstan's Finance Ministry, published by Kazinform: https://www.inform.kz/ru/pinduoduo-i-claude-posle-nalogovoy-proverki-uplatili-v-byudzhet-kazahstana-8-mlr-36f7e95d
Background: Forbes.kz: https://forbes.kz/articles/pinduoduo-i-claude-zaplatili-8-mlrd-tenge-nalogov-posle-kameralnogo-kontrolya-11964a; Kazinform: https://www.inform.kz/ru/nalog-na-google-prines-byudzhetu-pochti-200-milliardov-tenge-chto-eto-menyaet-dl-727c37fc
Legal basis: Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (adilet): https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/K2500000214
(The illustration is AI-generated, is not a photograph and does not directly depict the news.)