Kazakhstan to ban foreign travel for tax debtors starting 2026

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, several categories of Kazakhstanis with unresolved tax debts may face restrictions on their ability to travel. A measure introduced in the new tax code allows tax authorities to prevent individuals who owe money to the state from leaving the country, as reported by Kazakhstani attorney Zhangeldy Suleymanov on Facebook.

The new regulation will affect company managers, individual entrepreneurs, attorneys, notaries and other entities engaged in private practice. Restrictions will apply if a debt exceeds 20 monthly calculation indexes (approximately $155) and remains unpaid for more than three months. Authorities will be able to prevent taxpayers from leaving Kazakhstan through a court-issued sanction. This ban can be lifted either after full repayment of the debt or by a court decision.

He also pointed out that the new code mentions a new «automated» information system, which will analyze companies’ reports and independently schedule inspections without disclosing the grounds for their initiation.

«This means thousands of arbitrary inspections without justification could follow, leading to additional tax charges ranging from millions to billions. We’ve already dealt with a supposedly automated system that, in reality, selected companies for inspection manually,» the attorney said, expressing his dissatisfaction.  

He also said that such inspections are virtually unregulated by the Administrative Procedural and Process-Related Code, meaning there would be neither provisional decisions nor hearings.