An international treaty of the Republic of Kazakhstan is an international agreement concluded by the Republic of Kazakhstan with a foreign state (foreign states) or with an international organization (international organizations) in written form and governed by international law, regardless of whether such agreement is contained in a single document or in several related documents, as well as regardless of its specific designation.
The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (hereinafter referred to as the “Strasbourg Convention”) was concluded in Strasbourg on 25 January 1988 by the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation between the tax administrations of the states participating in the Strasbourg Convention.
In particular, the Strasbourg Convention allows the mutual exchange of all types of taxes and any information relating to taxpayers of the participating states.
In addition, the Strasbourg Convention serves as a legal basis for conducting simultaneous tax audits on the territory of each interested country. Where necessary, representatives of the tax authorities of Kazakhstan may participate in tax audits conducted in a participating state of the Convention.
The Convention has 55 member states and 29 offshore jurisdictions.
The Republic of Kazakhstan acceded to the Strasbourg Convention in accordance with the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 29 November 2013 No. 1268 “On signing by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters”.
The Convention was ratified in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 26 December 2014 No. 267-V.
One of the instruments ensuring cooperation in the tax sphere is the Agreements on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Tax Compliance. Currently, five such agreements are in force, two of which are multilateral agreements concluded within the Commonwealth of Independent States and under the Treaty between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Russian Federation dated 29 March 1996, while three are bilateral agreements concluded with the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, and the Russian Federation respectively.
The Agreement on Exchange of Tax Information is a type of international treaty that provides a legal framework for cooperation through the exchange of information related to tax matters. Currently, three such agreements are in force:
In addition to other international treaties, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Italian Republic and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan on cooperation and exchange of tax information is currently in force. This Memorandum is concluded on the basis of Article 26 of the Convention between the Government of the Italian Republic and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion, and it establishes the procedure for the exchange of information between the tax authorities of the two countries.
Mutual agreement between competent authorities.
On 26 June 2018, the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (hereinafter referred to as the “Multilateral Agreement”).
The Multilateral Agreement is based on Article 6 of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, ratified by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 267-V dated 26 December 2014 (the “Strasbourg Convention”), and provides for the implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exchange of financial account information.