Online cash registers and fiscal receipts in Uzbekistan

A business accepting payments from the public generally needs a registered online or virtual cash register. Customers receive fiscal receipts, including for card payments. The Tax Code sets a UZS 5 million fine (Art. 221) for failing to issue a required receipt. The following rules cover seller obligations under legislation, presidential and Cabinet acts, and court appeals.

At a glance:

• Register the cash register before accepting payments; government registration is free of charge.
• A bank terminal slip does not replace a fiscal receipt; a payment QR code and a receipt QR code serve different purposes.
• An exemption depends on the activity and the conditions in the statutory list, rather than business size alone.
• Certain offences are subject to a prior official warning (Art. 159-1, Tax Code).
• The seller must connect each payment received with a properly issued receipt and transmission of fiscal data.

Updated: 16 September 2026

Who must use an online or virtual cash register

The rules cover legal entities, individual and family entrepreneurs making monetary settlements with the public (paragraph 1, Annex 1 to Cabinet Resolution No. 943). A cash register is often referred to by the Russian abbreviation KKM; cash-register equipment is the broader statutory category. Ordinary retail sales and services to the public require a cash register unless an established exemption applies to the activity.

An online cash register is electronic equipment that creates fiscal documents, sends them to the operator, and prints or transmits them electronically. A virtual cash register is software with those functions and the ability to connect to a fiscal module (paragraph 2, Annex 1). Sales-accounting software alone is not a registered virtual cash register.

The cash register must appear in the State Register (paragraph 3, Annex 1). It must display product-catalogue identification codes and support connection of barcode and digital-marking readers. The current rules also require connection to bank-card payment acceptance and use of a 2D scanner.

For terminal payments, the customer receives a fiscal receipt alongside the terminal slip; a fiscal receipt is also required for an electronic payment made for a purchase at the outlet (paragraph 6, Annex 1). Accepting no cash therefore does not remove the cash-register obligation.

Remote purchases through payment applications and marketplaces require a fiscal mark on electronic receipts (paragraph 5, Presidential Resolution PP-5252). The exception stated there for P2P transfers and loan payments does not turn a transfer paying for goods into a sale exempt from fiscal recording. In e-commerce, the virtual cash-register receipt is sent to the buyer's phone, email or personal account (Art. 23, E-commerce Law).

A cash receipt and an invoice serve different accounting purposes. The article on electronic invoices explains when the seller needs an invoice and how its details are corrected. It is relevant when dealing with a company or entrepreneur.

Who is exempt from using a cash register

Annex 3 to Cabinet Resolution No. 306 contains the list of exempt categories. Its current provisions cover:

1. Legal entities and individuals issuing coupons, tickets or equivalent documents constituting strictly accountable forms when providing services to the public.
2. Legal entities and individuals selling newspapers and magazines.
3. Sales at equipped trading places in dehkan markets of agricultural produce and meat from slaughtered animals of the seller's own production, excluding individual entrepreneurs and legal entities.
4. Sales of catering products on aircraft and trains, excluding restaurant cars.
5. Household services provided away from fixed premises, blacksmithing and sheet-metal work.
6. Military trade outlets located along the State border.
7. Canteens and buffets in general education schools.
8. Pharmacy branches established at rural medical stations.
9. Individuals selling goods at weekend fairs, markets for vehicles and other used goods, or selling live livestock, birds, animals and similar items.
10. Sales of goods and provision of services through vending machines.

This presents the list in expanded form: the subparagraphs of its second entry are shown separately. The exemption for home-produced agricultural goods does not cover every market trader. The school-canteen exemption does not exempt the entire catering industry.

Tickets, coupons and equivalent documents for the first category are registered before payments begin; the tax authority has two days to register them (paragraph 19, Annex 1 to Resolution No. 306). City and suburban transport tickets, and documents sold using a cash register, are excluded from that registration requirement. Electronic tickets and unnumbered documents that are not strictly accountable forms do not independently confer the right to operate without a cash register.

A separate provision concerns remote, hard-to-reach settlements: the online-register transition timetable does not apply in territories on the annually approved list (paragraph 4, Presidential Decree UP-5813). A temporary internet outage at a shop does not mean the settlement belongs to that list.

How to register a cash register and what it costs

Before accepting payments, the business applies to a registered technical service centre or its regional branch. The application may be electronic or written (paragraph 16, Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943). Attach:

• copies of documents confirming the fixed outlet or mobile trading location: a lease for the building, structure or part of it, or cadastral documents;
• a copy of the maintenance and repair agreement with the service centre;
• map coordinates for the outlet or mobile trading location.

The application identifies the business, location and activity, cash-register model and number, and fiscal module. Information already held in the database is populated automatically. The centre may not demand documents outside the prescribed list (paragraph 17, Annex 1).

Registration itself is free of charge (paragraph 20, Annex 1). Equipment and service costs are separate: the centre is paid for services provided under the contract, at the amount and on the terms it specifies (paragraph 9, Annex 1). The basic virtual cash-register software developed by the tax authority is supplied free of charge (paragraph 5, Annex 1).

Registration may be refused on three grounds (paragraph 21, Annex 1): incomplete documents, confirmed discrepancies in the information, or a cash register absent from the State Register. Other grounds are not permitted. A notice explaining the refusal is sent to the centre and the business's personal account no later than one working day; the business may correct the deficiencies and reapply, or appeal the refusal.

When a fixed outlet changes address, an application must reach the centre within three working days, accompanied by documents for the new premises (paragraph 25, Annex 1). Mobile traders register their cash registers at the entrepreneur's place of registration. Moving a register from a closed fixed outlet to mobile trading requires prior notice to the tax inspectorate identifying the trading location and period.

What information a fiscal receipt must contain

The receipt must identify the seller, purchase, payment and fiscal recording of the transaction. The required receipt details appear in paragraph 7 of Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943. They are grouped below by subject; special fields concern the relevant card, goods or transaction.

Paper receipts must use black characters on special white paper. Paper width must be at least 55 mm, and character height at least 2 mm. The QR code must measure at least 30 × 30 mm. Additional details may be included.

An ordinary receipt must contain the goods information, QR code and fiscal mark; a VAT payer also states the VAT rate and amount. Missing information makes the receipt invalid (paragraph 5, Decree UP-5813). However, receipts classified as advances, instalments or credit are specifically issued without QR codes or fiscal marks (paragraph 7, Annex 1). Assessing a receipt therefore requires checking its transaction type, rather than merely looking for a square image.

How receipt QR codes differ from payment QR codes

A fiscal receipt's QR code is used to verify that receipt. A payment QR code is used to receive money. The presence of a code for transferring funds does not establish that a fiscal document was created for the purchase.

Since 1 January 2026, individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people in retail trade must have a special payment QR code generated on a digital platform; its absence is treated as failure to use cash-register equipment or a payment terminal (paragraph 7, Presidential Resolution PP-247). The special regime provides for fiscal receipts generated by the platform (paragraph 2, PP-247). Self-employed status therefore cannot, by itself, justify failing to issue the receipt required for the transaction.

Since 1 July 2026, legal entities in trade and services must accept payments through unified QR codes; failure to use them is a breach of trading rules (paragraph 3, Decree UP-246). This is a separate provision from the requirement for individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people.

The rules in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 7 of PP-247 expressly exclude self-employed passenger carriers and delivery providers working through aggregators whose electronic platforms are integrated with the tax authorities' systems (paragraph 8, PP-247). This targeted exception does not cover all self-employed people.

Outages, returns and receipt errors

A communication failure and a defective cash register follow different procedures. An offline receipt may be issued when connectivity is unavailable; a breakdown requires notifying the service centre and documenting payments in the prescribed way.

The sources set different transmission deadlines for offline data: Decree UP-5813 retains 24 hours (paragraph 5), whereas paragraph 31 of Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943, amended in January 2026, specifies 48 hours for the first receipt. The two acts differ on this point; the second deadline alone does not establish that the first was repealed. Neither provision permits sales without issuing receipts because the internet is unavailable.

When the register fails, the business notifies the centre by phone, in person or through its account. The centre must notify the tax authority within one hour of receiving the information (paragraph 32, Annex 1), and install a replacement register following breakdown, loss or theft within one day (paragraph 11, Annex 1).

Until the replacement is installed, payments are recorded in a registered special receipt book (paragraph 33, Annex 1). Once the register is repaired or replaced, these sales must be entered into the cash-register system within one working day. An informal handwritten acknowledgement is not the receipt book prescribed by this provision.

A refund is documented using the receipt or equivalent document (paragraphs 35–37, Annex 1): prepare a returned-goods delivery note in two copies, a refund record, the buyer's written application and a cash-disbursement voucher identifying the buyer. The regulation allows no more than one banking day for the described withdrawal of the necessary funds from the settlement account. When goods of proper quality are returned, the law preserves the original method of payment for refunds (Art. 18, Consumer Protection Law), unless the parties agree otherwise.

For a full or partial return, issue a return cash receipt and adjust revenue in the period of the refund (paragraph 38, Annex 1). Errors are corrected separately: discrepancies in catalogue codes, units, quantities, amounts and VAT may be corrected before the applicable tax-reporting deadline for the month in which the discrepancy was discovered (paragraph 38-1, Annex 1).

Cases of tax-base adjustment are treated separately: returned goods, refusal of services, changes to transaction terms, and discounts provided by the contract or pricing policy. The Tax Code specifies a one-year period or the warranty period (Art. 257), where the goods or services carry a warranty. Changing a transaction and correcting an original error should not be recorded as the same operation.

Fines for missing receipts and other offences

The financial sanction depends on the offence. The table sets out all four offences covered by Article 221 of the Tax Code and their base fines for the taxpayer.

If the taxpayer admits the offence and voluntarily pays the sanction within ten days (Art. 218, Tax Code) after receiving the decision, the fine is halved. That article separately provides for halving a fine where a mitigating circumstance exists and doubling it where an aggravating circumstance is established. For this rule, repetition means a further analogous offence after liability was imposed; after one year without such an offence (Art. 216, Tax Code), the person is treated as not having been held liable. Mitigating circumstances include difficult personal or family circumstances, threats, coercion or dependency, and other circumstances recognised by the court or tax authority.

Example. If the base fine for failure to issue a compulsory receipt is imposed and the taxpayer admits the offence and meets the voluntary-payment condition, the calculation is UZS 5,000,000 / 2 = UZS 2,500,000. This applies the reduction rule to a particular amount; it is not a separate receipt tariff.

Breach of fiscal-mark, integration or compulsory digital-marking requirements is a separate offence: 2% of net revenue (Art. 227-1, Tax Code) in the latest reporting quarter in which sales occurred, rising to 20% for repetition within a year after the fine. This offence cannot automatically be substituted for every failure to issue a receipt. Example. Assuming net revenue of UZS 100,000,000, the calculation is UZS 100,000,000 × 2% = UZS 2,000,000; for repetition as specified in that provision, UZS 100,000,000 × 20% = UZS 20,000,000.

When an official warning comes first

Where tax officers identify offences covered by the first part of Article 221 at businesses or in mahallas assigned to them, the procedure provides for an official warning through the personal account (Art. 159-1, Tax Code). If the offence is not remedied within three days after the warning, or repetition is identified, an on-site tax inspection follows. This is a specific procedure subject to the stated conditions, rather than an exemption from every first cash-register fine.

For that cash-register offence, the decision based on the inspection record is made after one day but no later than three days after the record is drawn up. It takes effect three days after delivery to the person or representative, or electronic dispatch to the personal account. These periods do not replace the appeal deadline.

Cash-register control may include test purchases, comparisons and technical examinations (paragraph 40, Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943): comparing issued receipts with transmitted fiscal data and checking equipment against technical requirements. In a receipt dispute, the transaction documents and cash-register system records are relevant.

This article covers the cash-register offence and special warning procedure. The article on tax inspections explains the general rules for admitting inspectors, preparing inspection records and submitting objections. It is relevant where the inspection extends beyond one cash transaction.

Changes in 2025–2026

• From 1 January 2026, PP-247 of 12 August 2025 introduced the special payment QR code for retail individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people. Law ZRU-1108 of 25 December 2025 introduced the official-warning procedure described above.
• Cabinet Resolution 23, 23 January 2026 amended online-register rules; the current text provides for electronic transmission of fiscal documents and updated correction procedures. The offline-transmission deadlines in the acts differ as explained above.
• From 1 July 2026, UP-246 of 10 December 2025 made unified-QR payment acceptance compulsory for legal entities in trade and services.
• Cabinet Resolution 393, 20 July 2026 expressly lists QR payment in the payment-method field. That particular amendment takes effect on 22 October 2026; it is not yet effective on the article's revision date.

Social-card fields were introduced by Cabinet Resolution 610, 29 September 2025: card type, the first and last four digits, and the unique transaction number appear in the receipt-field list above.

How to appeal a cash-register fine

A decision following an on-site tax inspection may be appealed to the higher tax authority within one month (Art. 232, Tax Code) after the person knew or should have known of the violation of their rights. Submit the appeal through the authority that made the decision; it forwards the appeal and records within three days. A deadline missed for a valid reason may be reinstated on application.

A written or electronic appeal must contain the required information (Art. 233, Tax Code):

1. The individual's full name and residence, or the organisation's name and address.
2. The contested act, action or inaction.
3. The name of the relevant tax authority.
4. The grounds on which the applicant considers their rights violated.
5. The applicant's requested remedy.

The applicant or representative signs the appeal; the representative's authority must be documented. Depending on the dispute, supporting documents may include the receipt, transmission records, cash-register registration documents, the request to the service centre and the warning received.

An appeal to the higher authority or a court suspends enforcement of the contested decision (Art. 231, Tax Code), including financial sanctions. The taxpayer must notify the authority whose decision is challenged and attach proof of filing. Suspension lasts until the higher authority decides the appeal or the court judgment takes legal effect, respectively.

For appeals outside the specifically identified category of tax-audit decisions, consideration takes 15 days from receipt (Art. 235, Tax Code), extendable by no more than 15 days. For the tax-audit decision specified in that article, the period is one month, extendable by up to 15 days. The final decision must be delivered or sent within three days.

The general deadline for applying to an administrative court is six months (Art. 186, Code of Administrative Court Proceedings) after learning of the infringement, unless legislation specifies another deadline; a missed deadline may be reinstated for a valid reason. A personal administrative penalty imposed under the Code of Administrative Liability follows a different court route and deadline: the district or city criminal court (Art. 315), and, for a decision issued outside court, ten days after receiving its copy (Art. 316).

This article addresses disputes about cash-register offences. The article on tax-authority appeals explains the general grounds, procedural distinctions and court costs. It is relevant when preparing a complete appeal and selecting the applicable procedure.

Frequently asked questions

Must a receipt be issued for a card payment?

Yes. For a terminal payment, the seller issues a fiscal receipt alongside the bank slip (paragraph 6, Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943). The slip confirms the terminal transaction but does not replace the cash-register document. This also applies to an electronic payment for a purchase at the outlet. If the documents are technically combined, the document provided must retain the prescribed cash-register details.

Can a self-employed person accept payment without a receipt?

Self-employed status alone does not provide a universal exemption. A special payment QR code (paragraph 7, PP-247) has been required for retail settlements since 1 January 2026, and the digital platform provides for fiscal receipts. Whether a particular exemption applies depends on the activity and the statutory list's conditions, rather than the name of the tax status alone.

Is a receipt without a QR code always invalid?

An ordinary fiscal receipt requires a QR code and fiscal mark, but the regulation separately identifies advances, instalments and credit (paragraph 7, Annex 1 to Resolution No. 943). Receipts of those types do not contain a QR code or fiscal mark. First identify the payment type, then compare the document with the requirements applicable to that type of transaction.

Can the first missing receipt lead directly to a fine?

In the circumstances specified by law, an official warning comes first (Art. 159-1, Tax Code). However, the rule is limited to the offences and method of detection identified in that article. It does not automatically cover every cash-register breach. Assessing the decision requires checking the offence classification, how it was detected, the warning and compliance with the subsequent procedure.

Does an appeal automatically cancel the fine?

No. Filing an appeal suspends enforcement (Art. 231, Tax Code) of the contested decision; it does not cancel it. The authority that issued the decision must be notified of the filing and receive supporting documents. Cancellation or amendment depends on the higher tax authority's or court's decision. The appeal deadline matters regardless of whether collection has begun.