Become a participant of Astana Hub and receive tax preferences

Become a participant

What benefits will you get

01

Tax benefits of Astana Hub

02

Visa benefits

Participants have access to:

  • Hiring an unlimited number of foreign specialists
  • Work visa for up to 5 years
  • Exemption from paying the state fee for a work permit
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03

Development of your company

Astana Hub participants have access to:

  • Incubation and acceleration programs: Silkway, Techpreneurs, Hero training, Scalerator, etc.
  • Funding and grant programs: Seed money, Tech orda, KPS grant program
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04

Hub Space

Hub Space - office space rental program

  • Modern office with a convenient location
  • Workplace with round-the-clock access
  • Networking with the community and access to Astana Hub events
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05

Partner Resources

Free and preferential access to services:

  • Yandex Cloud
  • GOhost.kz
  • Alibaba Cloud
  • And other services
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For future Astana Hub participants

Who can become a participant
Registration procedure
Counter obligations
Important documents
It is important to know

Legal entities can become participants:

  • Deriving income exclusively from priority types of activities
  • Those under the generally established taxation regime
  • Separate accounting is not provided
1

Online registration

Create a personal account on the Astana Hub portal and submit an electronic application with attaching the necessary documents

2

Application processing

Moderation takes 5 working days. In case of document discrepancies, Technopark will return the documents for revision

3

Decision of the commission

Within 10 working days, a letter will be sent to the post office with a response about the positive or negative decision of the commission

4

Signing the contract

The agreement specifies the terms of activity of the Technopark participant

5

Confirmation

After signing the agreement, you will receive a Technopark participant certificate

Submitting of reports

Provide reports on your company's activities

Peer to peer

Provide upon request of the Technopark: coaching, mentoring etc.

Revenue collection

Quarterly income collection of 1%

More detailed information can be found in the model contract

Team

Kalybekova Zhansaya

Director of the Registration Office

Write via email

Imangaliyeva Aliya

Chief Tax Manager

Write via email

Zhunusova Marya

Chief Manager for Legislative Initiatives

Write via email

Sabzhan Askhat

Chief Regulation Manager

Write via email

Rymbekov Aidar

Senior Tax Manager

Write via email

Zhientaeva Aiganym

Senior Regulation Manager

Write via email

Questions - Answers

Frequently asked questions

Who is a participant of Astana Hub?

Astana Hub participant is a legal entity - a resident of the Republic of Kazakhstan, deriving income exclusively from the implementation of priority activities and registered as a participant in Astana Hub, having received the appropriate certificate, having the right to use the services of Astana Hub, the right to receive tax benefits, a simplified visa regime and other advantages, provided for by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

How to determine whether a company’s activities are a priority in the field of ICT?

Participants in Astana Hub can be companies that carry out activities exclusively within the List of priority activities approved by Order of the Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 11, 2019 № 37/НҚ.

What are the requirements for Astana Hub participants when registering?

Legal entity:
- not related to organizations implementing an investment priority project in accordance with Article 284 of the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated October 29, 2015, as well as an investment strategic project under investment contracts concluded before January 1, 2015;
- fifty or more percent of shares (shares in the authorized capital) of which are not directly or indirectly owned by the state, national management holdings, national holdings and national companies or their subsidiaries;
- not being a subsoil user and participant in the special economic zone;
- not being a payer of excisable goods in accordance with Article 461 of the Tax Code;
- deriving income exclusively from the implementation of activities corresponding to one or more types of activities specified in the List of priority types of activities approved by the Acting Order of Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 11, 2019 № 37/НҚ;
- which does not have branches at the time of submitting the application for registration..

Can a company located outside of Astana city become a participant of Astana Hub?

Yes. Registration as participants in Astana Hub is carried out on the principle of extraterritoriality, that is, participants can be located in any city in Kazakhstan.

What documents must be submitted to Astana Hub to register as a Participant?

List of documents, required to register as a participant of Astana Hub, is presented in the “Documents” section.

Is it possible to submit documents in English?

Yes. The application and the documents attached to it are generated and attached at the applicant’s choice in Kazakh, Russian or English. When providing documents in English, Astana Hub provides their translation into Kazakh or Russian.

Is there a project business plan template?

If a company has been established recently, is it necessary to provide information about the absence (presence) of debts, the records of which are kept by the tax authorities?

Yes.

How to apply to participate in Astana Hub?

You must create a personal account on the Astana Hub portal and submit an electronic application with the necessary documents attached.

What is the procedure for registering a company as a participant in Astana Hub?

- Submitting an electronic application with the mandatory attachment of the necessary documentation on the Astana Hub portal.
- Preliminary consideration of the Astana Hub application.
- Review of the application by the commission.
- Notification of the commission’s decision based on the results of consideration of the application.
- Concluding an agreement on the conditions of participation in Astana Hub.
- Issuance of a certificate confirming the company’s registration as a participant in Astana Hub.
- Inclusion in the List of registered participants of Astana Hub.

How to find out the status of application after submission?

All messages and notifications regarding the application are sent through the Astana Hub portal to the applicant’s personal account. It is necessary to monitor messages in personal account.

How long does it take to process an application?

- Application review period: 15 working days.
-checking for completeness of information by Technopark employees (5 working days);
- consideration and decision on registration by the Participants Selection Commission (10 working days).

At what point does a company become a participant of Astana Hub?

The company becomes a participant of Astana Hub from the date specified in the certificate issued by Astana Hub.

Rules on CIT

General questions regarding the CIT Rules

No, Technopark participants who provide exclusively services (for example, custom development services or training services (IT school) and do not have their own intellectual property object (hereinafter - the IP object) reduce the CIT by 100%.

In what cases do the CIT Rules apply?

The CIT rules apply if a company has an IP object on its balance sheet and receives income from the sale of this IP object and/or the provision of services within the framework of this IP object.

Do the CIT rules apply to all tax benefits provided for Technopark participants?

No, the CIT Rules apply only to the extent of CIT benefits.

A Technopark participant who has an intellectual property object (hereinafter - the IP object) on its balance sheet must be guided by the CIT Rules?

Yes.
If a Technopark participant receives income from an IP object,
income to which a 100 percent reduction in the amount of calculated CIT is applied is determined as the product of the amount of income and the relationship coefficient, which is calculated using the following formula:
n=(a+b)*1, 3/a+b+c+d
a – expenses incurred related to the intellectual property, with the exception of the expenses specified in d;
b – costs of outsourcing to persons who are not related parties;
c – costs of outsourcing to related parties located outside the Republic of Kazakhstan;
d – expenses for the acquisition of an intellectual property item.

Can the amount of expenses when calculating the relationship coefficient according to the formula affect the CIT benefit?

Yes, the correlation coefficient is determined according to the formula:
n=(a+b)*1,3/a+b+c+d
a – expenses incurred related to the intellectual property, with the exception of the expenses specified in d;
b – costs of outsourcing to persons who are not related parties;
c – costs of outsourcing to related parties located outside the Republic of Kazakhstan;
d – expenses for the acquisition of an intellectual property item.
In the case when the total amount of expenses for c and d is greater than expenses a and b by more than 30%, then the coefficient n will be below 1, which in turn reduces the amount of income to which a reduction in the amount of calculated CIT by 100% is applied.

If, according to calculations according to the rules of CIT, a reduction of the amount of calculated CIT by 100 percent is not applied to part of the income of a Technopark participant, what to do with this income? How to display this amount in the CIT declaration?

Part of the Technopark participant’s income, to which the CIT reduction is not applied, must be taxed at 20% CIT.
In the CIT declaration, the amount of the reduced CIT must be indicated in the line “Reduction of CIT in accordance with tax legislation,” and the amount of CIT payable must be indicated in the line “Calculated amount of CIT taking into account the reduction.

What documents will confirm the existence of exclusive property rights to IP objects for the purpose of applying benefits under the CIT Rules?

Documents confirming the existence of exclusive property rights to an IP object include, but are not limited to:
- agreement on the assignment of exclusive property rights;
- license agreement on the transfer of exclusive property rights;
- copyright agreement on the transfer of exclusive rights;
- utility model patent.
Such documents must indicate that the Technopark participant has exclusive property rights to the IP object.

Will it be a confirmation of the existence of exclusive property rights to an IP object if one of the founders and/or managers of a Technopark participant is the copyright holder of this IP object?

No, the rights must be transferred to a legal entity participating in the Technopark, because the reduction in CIT applies to a legal entity that has exclusive property rights to an IP object.

If a Technopark participant received rights to an IP object within a year, will the reduction in CIT be applied for the entire year, or only from the moment such rights are received?

The tax period for CIT is a calendar year; therefore, the CIT benefit will be applied for the entire year, including in the case of obtaining exclusive property rights during the year.

Should a Technopark participant maintain separate tax records for IP objects?

Yes, in accordance with the CIT Rules, Technopark participants must maintain separate tax records for each IP object.
At the same time, Technopark participants must receive income exclusively from the implementation of priority activities in the field of ICT.

A company that has an intellectual property object (hereinafter - the IP object) on its balance sheet and provides services within the framework of this IP object, must be guided by the CIT Rules?

Yes, a Technopark participant who has an IP object, who also receives income from services related to their IP object, such as:
1) services for research, analysis, design, adaptation and configuration of software;
2) technical support services;
3) services for data transformation and migration;
4) software update services;
5) software testing services;
6) software correction services;
7) services for training software users.
can reduce the CIT by 100% if:
1) all agreements of the Technopark participant are concluded in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan (including employment contracts);
2) if the participant receives confirmation from the Technopark of compliance with the following conditions:
• carrying out activities with the number of full-time employees necessary for the actual implementation of activities;
• employees of the Technopark participant have the necessary qualifications and (or) seniority, and (or) experience for the actual implementation of activities;
• correspondence of the volume of expenses incurred by a Technopark participant to the actual volume of expenses required to carry out the activity.
3) there are exclusive property rights to the IP object.

In what way and how will confirmation of the Technopark participant’s compliance with the following conditions be issued:

Confirmation of compliance of the Technopark participant with the following conditions:
• carrying out activities with the number of full-time employees necessary for the actual implementation of activities;
• employees of the Technopark participant have the necessary qualifications and (or) seniority, and (or) experience for the actual implementation of activities;
• correspondence of the volume of expenses incurred by a Technopark participant to the actual volume of expenses required to carry out the activity. Will be issued by Technopark until March 20 of the following reporting year. The planned data for comparison will be the indicators specified in the business plan of the Technopark participant, which was submitted when submitting an application for participation.
The process of obtaining confirmation will be posted on the Technopark platform, and Technopark participants will be notified about it.
Until confirmation is received, Technopark participants will be given the opportunity to make adjustments to the current business plan once a year, of which will also notify Technopark participants.

If a Technopark participant received rights to an IP object within a year, will the reduction in CIT be applied for the entire year, or only from the moment such rights are received?

The tax period for CIT is a calendar year; therefore, the CIT benefit will be applied for the entire year, including in the case of obtaining exclusive property rights during the year.