Accounting and tax accounting policies in Uzbekistan

An accounting policy records the methods an organization uses for financial and tax accounting. The head approves the financial-accounting section by order, while the taxpayer determines the tax section independently. A new organization formalizes its financial-accounting policy within 90 days after registration and selects its tax-accounting methods during its first reporting period.

In brief:

• The head is responsible for developing the policy and organizing accounting even when the work is outsourced.
• An ordinary commercial organization bases its financial-accounting section on national accounting standards, while an IFRS organization follows the applicable international framework.
• A new organization formalizes its financial-accounting policy within 90 days (para. 51 of NAS 1) after registration.
• The tax section must cover seven required elements (Article 77 of the Tax Code), including registers, separate accounting, expenses, VAT and depreciation.
• The central outcome is one consistent set of rules across the order, accounting system, source documents, registers, calculations and reporting.

Updated: 05 September 2026

What is an accounting policy and who needs one

A financial-accounting policy is the set of principles, methods and practical procedures selected by an organization to maintain its accounts and prepare financial statements. Legal entities, their branches and other structural subdivisions are accounting entities (Article 6 of the Law). Special rules determine the procedure for unincorporated entrepreneurs and subdivisions of foreign companies.

The current National Accounting Standard (NAS) No. 1 applies to legal entities regardless of ownership form, but excludes budget-funded and insurance organizations, banks and non-bank credit organizations from its general scope (para. 2 of NAS 1). Budget-funded and credit-sector entities are subject to special regulation (Article 9 of the Law).

An organization may apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) under the prescribed procedure (Article 10 of the Law). Joint-stock companies, commercial banks, insurance organizations and legal entities classified as large taxpayers must keep accounts and prepare reports under IFRS; voluntary IFRS adopters are exempt from NAS reporting under the transition rules. This does not remove the requirement for a tax accounting policy.

This article explains how to select and formalize an organization’s rules, but it does not replace the list of applicable standards. The guide to accounting under NAS helps determine the reporting framework, working chart of accounts and source-document requirements. Use it before approving the financial-accounting section of the policy.

Who prepares and approves the accounting policy

The head organizes accounting. The head may create an accounting department, engage an accountant, outsource accounting to a specialist organization or keep the accounts personally, but must ensure the development of the policy, internal accounting, control, data accuracy, document retention and preparation of reports as the responsible person (Article 11 of the Law).

The financial-accounting policy is formalized by an organizational and administrative document (para. 51 of NAS 1): an order, directive or another act of the head. The selected methods apply from 1 January of the following year and apply consistently across all subdivisions, including those with a separate balance sheet. A new organization must formalize the document before its financial statements are first published and no later than 90 days after registration; the policy is deemed applicable from the registration date.

The taxpayer determines the tax section independently. The law permits any form (Article 77 of the Tax Code), so both sections may be approved by one order and set out in separate sections or appendices. Keep the legal bases distinct: test financial-accounting decisions against the applicable financial-reporting framework and tax decisions against the Tax Code.

Example. An LLC is registered on 2 April 2026. The final date for formalizing its financial-accounting policy is 2 April + 90 days = 1 July 2026. If its first financial statements are published on 20 June, the order must be issued before publication, which is earlier than the outer 90-day limit. The LLC selects its tax-accounting methods during the first reporting period after formation (Article 77 of the Tax Code).

What to include in the financial-accounting policy

The document should contain the decisions the organization will actually apply, not a repetition of the standards. NAS 1 requires accurate, neutral, prudent, complete, comparable and understandable reporting that reflects the economic substance of transactions in substance (para. 48 of NAS 1). If no specific NAS applies, the head uses judgment by considering other standards, guidance from the competent authority, recognition and measurement criteria and accepted industry practice within those limits (para. 50 of NAS 1).

A practical structure can be divided into organizational, technical and methodological sections.

The disclosure topics include profit, consolidation, business combinations, joint arrangements, fixed and intangible assets, capitalization, investments, leases, research and development, inventories, taxes, provisions, employee benefits, foreign currency, segments and government assistance as a non-exhaustive list (para. 126 of NAS 1). The notes to the financial statements separately disclose measurement bases, each policy element material to understanding the statements and an explanation of changes for users (para. 124 of NAS 1).

Each provision should answer four questions: which transaction it covers, which method was selected, who applies it in the system and which document supports the result. If a standard allows no choice, the order cannot invent an alternative. When a choice exists, the wording must be unambiguous and match the accounting-system settings.

Detailed recognition and classification rules for revenue and expenses are not repeated here. The separate guide to income and expense accounting explains the applicable standards, supporting documents and differences from tax accounting. Use it when completing the methodological section of the policy.

What belongs in the tax accounting policy

The tax policy must contain the complete set of decisions expressly listed in the Tax Code. Tax accounting summarizes taxable items and calculations and is generally based on accounting data (Article 76 of the Tax Code), but an accounting amount does not always become a tax amount automatically.

The tax section must include the required list (Article 77 of the Tax Code):

1. independently developed tax-register forms and the procedure for preparing them, unless the law provides otherwise;
2. officials responsible for compliance with the policy;
3. the procedure for separate accounting where it is mandatory;
4. the selected methods for treating costs as deductible expenses for corporate income tax and for crediting VAT;
5. the policy for identifying hedged risks, hedged items and instruments, and the method for assessing hedge effectiveness and other financial risks;
6. depreciation rates or methods for each group and subgroup of assets;
7. the procedure for separate accounting of income from Islamic finance activities and Islamic securities.

If the organization has no hedging transactions or Islamic-finance income, a sound document does not invent a method. It records that the section is inapplicable as of the approval date and requires a review before such transactions begin.

Separate accounting is required when activities are simultaneously subject to different tax treatments. The Code provides direct and proportional methods; items that cannot be attributed directly to one activity are allocated proportionally under the prescribed rules (Article 80 of the Tax Code). The policy should connect the selected method with account analytics, registers and the revenue source used for the proportion.

How the financial and tax policies differ

The financial-accounting policy answers how to present the organization’s financial position and performance faithfully. The tax policy answers how to use accounting documentation to determine the tax base, deductions, credits and reporting. One fact may therefore have different accounting and tax measurements without being an error, provided each difference follows the relevant rule and is tracked in registers.

For example, when an inventory-measurement method changes, the financial-accounting section determines recognition and presentation under the applicable standard. For corporate income tax, a positive difference increases aggregate income and a negative difference reduces it; the change is permitted from the start of a period (Article 321 of the Tax Code). The policy should bridge the two calculations instead of making the tax amount replace the accounting amount.

A control register contains the accounting amount, tax adjustment, legal reference, final tax amount and responsible person. It is particularly relevant to depreciation, inventories, provisions, deferred expenses, foreign-exchange differences and transactions with mixed use in taxable and exempt turnover.

Which documents to approve with the policy

An order becomes operational only when supported by appendices and evidence of implementation. Source documents must record the transaction, contain the mandatory details and may be electronic; signatories are responsible for their timeliness, correctness, accuracy and delivery to accounting (Article 14 of the Law).

Registers may be kept on paper or electronically, must systematize source data and identify their mandatory details and responsible persons; unsupported corrections (Article 15 of the Law) are prohibited. The policy should therefore append the organization’s register forms and set rules for corrections, access rights, backups and export of a readable copy.

Inventory counts are mandatory to confirm data accuracy, while the inventory standard determines their objects, procedure and timing for inventory counts (Article 16 of the Law). Internal control is organized on the basis of the adopted policy to support the legality and economic justification of transactions, safeguard assets and detect errors and theft through control measures (Article 21 of the Law).

Accounting documents are generally retained for at least five years (Article 29 of the Law). Tax documentation is retained until the limitation period for the tax obligation expires; on reorganization, the successor assumes the duty, and on liquidation the records go to the state archive under the special procedure (Article 79 of the Tax Code).

A specific relief applies: legal entities need not retain financial, tax and statistical reports submitted electronically to the tax and statistics authorities from 1 January 2022, or documents created through the tax authority’s automated systems through the electronic channel. This does not remove the duty to retain source documents, internal registers and calculations outside that exception.

When an accounting policy may be changed

The financial-accounting policy is not changed during a calendar year. NAS 1 permits five grounds: reorganization, a change of owners, a change in legislation or accounting regulation, development of new accounting methods, and a more faithful presentation of information after the change (para. 52 of NAS 1). The change must be justified, formalized by order and measured using confirmed data when the new method begins.

The tax policy may be updated by approving a new policy or section or by amending the existing document in one of these ways (Article 77 of the Tax Code). The selected methods generally apply from 1 January of the following year. During the calendar year, a change is permitted only because tax law or the conditions of taxation changed and only to the extent caused by that change.

The policy need not be formally reapproved each year if the rules and facts have not changed. The organization should prepare an annual review sheet covering new law, new transactions, structural and ownership changes, the accounting system, IFRS status, tax regimes and separate accounting. If there is no change, retain the review result as part of internal control.

How to distinguish a policy, estimate and error

A policy change alters an accounting principle or method; an estimate change updates a monetary amount because of new information; an error is the incorrect use of information that was available or the failure to apply the rule in force. The distinction determines the correction and disclosure period.

An error is material when the earlier statements can no longer be treated as accurate for users (para. 114 of NAS 1). An organization may not label an error a “policy change” to shift the entire effect into the future, or restate earlier periods for an ordinary estimate update.

Liability and implementation checks

Liability arises from failing to perform accounting duties, not from lacking an attractive template. Inaccurate data, failure to perform statutory duties or failure to conduct an inventory count exposes officials to a fine of from 1.320.000 to 3.080.000 BRV (Article 175¹ of the Code of Administrative Liability), where BRV means the base calculation unit; a repeat violation within one year carries a fine of 3.080.000 to 4.400.000 BRV.

Example. At the current value of one BRV, 440.000, the first range is 440.000 × 3 = 1.320.000 through 440.000 × 7 = 3.080.000. For a repeat violation, the upper limit is 440.000 × 10 = 4.400.000. The displayed amount updates with the BRV, but the ground and range should be checked against the current Code of Administrative Liability.

An audit examines the accuracy of financial statements and their compliance with accounting legislation within the audit (Article 32 of the Law on Audit Activity). A difference between the order, postings, registers and statements shows that the selected rule is not being applied in practice even if the document was signed on time.

Before closing a period, check the reporting framework, current order, correspondence between the chart of accounts and analytics, source documents, inventory count, tax registers and separate accounting. Finally, trace several transactions from the contract and source document through the posting and tax adjustment to the financial-statement line.

What changed in 2025–2027

• Presidential Resolution No. PP-282 of 15 September 2025 has been in force since 17 December 2025. It created the register of public-interest entities: from 1 January of the year after inclusion, an entity keeps its accounts under IFRS; after the second year, it prepares and publishes IFRS financial statements with an audit report. Legal entities that adopt IFRS voluntarily notify the tax authority through the personal account by 1 March of the following reporting year.
• Order No. 3810 of 11 April 2026 approved NFRS No. 2, “Basis of Preparation of Financial Statements: Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates.” It will take effect on 1 January 2027 and govern selection and changes of policies, estimates and error correction for legal entities other than public-interest and budget-funded organizations under its future scope.
• Order No. 3923 of 13 August 2026 declares the current order on NAS 1 to be no longer effective. The new NFRS No. 1 and the repeal of the former document take effect on 1 January 2027 from that date.

Organizations within the current scope of NAS 1 apply its rules through 31 December 2026. NFRS 1 and NFRS 2 are future rules: organizations can prepare a mapping of methods, estimates, disclosures and system settings now, but must not present the future framework as already effective.

What to check before approval

First determine the applicable framework: NAS, IFRS or sector rules. Then map the company’s transactions to permitted methods, reconcile accounting and tax differences and formalize one package: an order, two clearly separated sections, the working chart of accounts, register forms, a document-workflow schedule, inventory procedures and controls.

After approval, test the document against actual transactions. For each material reporting line, you should be able to locate the source document, posting, selected method, tax adjustment and responsible person. This test turns the accounting policy from a formal file into a reproducible accounting process.

Frequently asked questions

Must the accounting policy be changed every year?

No. A new annual version is not required if the law, standards, owners, business structure, transactions and selected methods have not changed. The organization should nevertheless review the document before the new period. Financial-accounting changes are permitted only on the grounds in NAS 1, while tax methods generally apply from 1 January of the following year and remain unchanged during the calendar year except to the extent required by law.

Can the financial and tax policies be combined in one order?

Yes. The Tax Code permits any form for the tax policy, while the financial-accounting policy is formalized by an organizational and administrative document of the head. A single order with separate appendices is practical. Each appendix should identify its own legal basis, methods, registers and responsible persons so that a financial-accounting decision is not treated automatically as a tax rule.

Who is responsible for the policy when accounting is outsourced?

The head of the organization remains responsible for organizing accounting, developing the policy, internal control and reporting accuracy. An external accountant or specialist organization may perform the work under a contract. The contract and policy should align source-document deadlines, period closing, system access, error correction, backups and return of the archive.

Does a small enterprise need a tax accounting policy?

Business size alone does not disapply Article 77 of the Tax Code. The content depends on actual transactions: inapplicable sections may be marked as such, but the forms of proprietary tax registers, responsible officials and methods actually selected must be defined. If activities subject to different tax treatments arise, configure separate accounting before they begin.

What applies from 1 January 2027?

Ordinary legal entities that are neither public-interest nor budget-funded organizations will move to NFRS 1 and NFRS 2. NAS 1 remains effective until that date. IFRS entities and entities under special sector regulation must examine their own framework separately. Preparation may start in advance, but 2026 accounting cannot be prepared as though the future standards were already in force.