Tashkent International Financial Centre in Uzbekistan

Tashkent International Financial Centre is a designated territory for financial businesses and investors with a special legal regime. Its foundations are Decree UP-48, Constitutional Law ZRU-1158 and Decree UP-188. The law provides conditional tax relief until 1 January 2076 (Art. 18), but the regime’s operation depends on a separate activation procedure, while company admission requires registration and the necessary authorisations.

In brief:

• The law has entered into force, but the Centre requires separate activation (Art. 31) before starting operations.
• Companies established under Uzbek, foreign or Centre law may participate if they meet the recognition and registration requirements (Art. 5).
• Relief for profits from financial services depends on qualifying participant status (Art. 18).
• Joint decisions on tax, currency and other matters must be adopted by 1 December 2026.
• For a business, the decisive factors are its permitted activities, licence conditions and established entitlement to the particular relief.

Updated: 15 September 2026

Where the Centre is located and when it will operate

The Centre has defined territorial boundaries. An annex to the establishing decree places it in Tashkent’s Shaykhantakhur district, with reference points along Islam Karimov, Yangi Toshkent and Ukchi streets. Legally, its boundaries follow the description of turning points. Having an office in Tashkent does not establish that it lies within the Centre.

Once the initial boundaries have been established and operations have begun, the law prohibits reducing the territory (Art. 3). The President may expand it and clarify its boundaries. The premises’ address and the company’s status therefore require separate checks.

The law has been in force since 25 July 2026 (Art. 37). Activation follows a different sequence: the bodies adopt the initial decisions, the Council assesses readiness, and the President approves its readiness decision. Operations start on the date stated in that decision, which must fall within one month (Art. 31) of approval. The law allows twelve months from its entry into force to prepare the necessary decisions; the Council may extend this period by up to six months through a reasoned decision.

The September decree organises launch preparations: the first Council meeting must take place within two months of official publication. This is an organisational deadline. It is not, by itself, the date when participant admission or all tax relief begins.

What changed in 2026

• UP-48 dated 30 March 2026 approved establishment of the financial Centre and international commercial court; its annexes defined the initial structure, territory and relief.
• ZRU-1158 dated 13 July 2026 established the special regime. The law’s entry into force is separate from subsequent activation; relief, admission and judicial jurisdiction must be read against the Constitutional Law.
• UP-188 dated 10 September 2026 requires decisions agreed with state bodies to be adopted by 1 December 2026. Draft visa and migration rules must be prepared within three months.

An annex to the September decree lists ten joint decisions: territorial attribution of activities; financial services to persons outside the Centre; currency supervision and information exchange; investment tax residence; relief and separate accounting; tax administration; customs administration; foreign staff and migration reporting; control of budget funds; and consolidated supervision.

A separate list contains 31 initial instruments. They include rules on companies, licensing, employment, data, investment funds and the Court; these are examples, not the full list. An instruction to prepare these instruments does not itself supply tariffs, application forms or capital requirements.

Who can become a participant

A participant is a person registered, established or recognised by the Centre (Art. 2). The law admits legal entities established under Uzbek, foreign or Centre law. Recognition requirements, legal forms and registration procedures are set by a Council decision (Art. 5). Identification numbers issued to persons covered by the law are recognised throughout Uzbekistan.

Financial licences may be issued to legal entities, partnerships, branches of foreign legal entities, subsidiaries, joint ventures and other permitted structures. An individual may receive such a licence only in the cases and to the extent allowed by Centre decisions. Applicants must meet the basic admission requirements (Art. 7):

• sound financial standing;
• systems and controls proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the activity;
• management by persons with sufficient knowledge, qualifications and business reputation.

Participant status, authorisation for a particular service and entitlement to tax relief have different conditions. Recognising a company as a participant does not authorise every financial service or exempt all its income from tax.

What activities are permitted

The law provides for several activity categories (Art. 7). The table illustrates them with examples; it is a selection of operations, not the complete licensing list. Each activity remains subject to the scope of the relevant licence, registration or exemption.

A special purpose vehicle, abbreviated SPV in the law, is a structure for a particular purpose or transaction. Including such structures in the list does not automatically determine their tax treatment. For logistics, for example, the law specifically links ancillary services to authorised commodity trading or market infrastructure.

The Financial Services Authority may establish a regulatory sandbox (Art. 28): a supervised environment for testing innovative services. Admission depends on the regulator’s conditions.

Registration, licences, documents and costs

Company registration and financial authorisation fall under different statutory powers (Art. 5). The Council sets recognition and registration rules, while the Financial Services Authority issues applicable instruments for regulated financial and ancillary services. For other permitted activities, the law provides for licensing or registration by the Administration.

The Constitutional Law does not prescribe one document package, universal minimum capital or a common processing period for every application. It delegates procedures and requirements to the Centre’s bodies. The documents therefore depend on the proposed legal form, service and applicable decision. The overall activation timetable cannot be treated as a company registration deadline.

Licensing, registration, permits and services are subject to fees and charges (Art. 23), payable by participants and other applicants under Centre decisions. The law itself does not set tariffs. Registration costs, payment deadlines and recurring contributions must follow an effective decision applicable to the payer concerned.

Transitional admission under an existing licence

The law distinguishes national licences from foreign licences. These mechanisms concern the period after activation and before the relevant permanent licensing rules enter into force.

Temporary foreign admission requires comparable regulatory standards and compliance with Financial Action Task Force — FATF — standards, together with a written undertaking to comply with supervisory safeguards replacing the agreement. The company must keep its underlying licence in good standing and promptly report changes. Grounds for reviewing transitional admission (Art. 33) include amendment, restriction, suspension or revocation of the foreign licence; breach of admission conditions; a threat to the Centre’s integrity, reputation or proper operation; and permanent rules taking effect and ending the transition.

What matters before applying

A participation decision requires matching the proposed activity to permitted services, the form of establishment to registration rules, and income sources to relief conditions. Activation and publication of applicable decisions determine when the relevant mechanisms can be used. The company’s tax model must also account for the large multinational group exception.

Where a participant operates outside the Centre, national regulation of that activity (Art. 5) applies. Promotion of regulated services to persons outside the Centre must comply with Uzbek legislation; retail services through a public offer are restricted except in cases it permits. Special status does not automatically extend across the Uzbek market.

For monitoring regulatory developments, the law provides for consultation on significant decisions (Art. 10), with an exception for decisions during the first twelve months and a special urgent-adoption procedure. Urgent decisions must undergo consultation within sixty days of adoption. Bodies publish annual transparency reports (Art. 24) within four months of the financial year’s end. These include decisions and consultations, enforcement measures and court cases, licensing and registration data, budgets and expenditure, and the following year’s programme. For investors, they are statutory sources of information about how the regime operates.

Applicable law and language

The regime follows a statutory hierarchy (Art. 8): Uzbekistan’s Constitution; the Constitutional Law on the Centre; presidential instruments contemplated by that law; Centre decisions; and, where necessary and consistent with superior rules, the common law of England and Wales and the principles and rules of equity. The Council determines the applicable English statutes, their reference date and adaptations. International standards used by other centres may assist interpretation and fill gaps.

National legislation applies to matters outside the Centre’s jurisdiction and in expressly provided cases. Centre decisions cannot override the Constitution, the Constitutional Law or ratified international treaties. Centre-related contracts are governed by its special law unless the parties validly choose another law.

A Centre decision becomes binding only after publication in English (Art. 9) in the official register. Unless it specifies a later date, it takes effect upon publication. A translation or announcement that a decision is being prepared does not replace that publication.

English is the Centre’s official language (Art. 30). Submitted documents and court proceedings are generally in English. Translations are permitted under the applicable rules. Written transactions may use another language agreed by the parties; where several versions exist, the priority of English may be changed only by an express agreement permitted by Centre decisions.

Where disputes are heard

The Tashkent International Commercial Court is the Centre’s independent judicial body, with first-instance and appellate courts (Art. 29). The law grants it exclusive jurisdiction over the following categories:

• civil and employment disputes between Centre persons;
• disputes concerning activities, torts and other wrongful conduct, or property connected with the Centre’s territory or decisions;
• insolvency and bankruptcy of participants and individuals residing in the Centre;
• disputes submitted to the Court by agreement;
• international arbitration matters where a statutory basis for jurisdiction exists;
• challenges to Centre bodies’ decisions, actions and omissions, including licensing, supervision and enforcement measures;
• disputes of other specialised centres, including the International Digital Technology Centre, expressly assigned to this Court;
• other civil and commercial disputes expressly assigned by an applicable instrument consistently with the nature of an international commercial court, without general jurisdiction over ordinary administrative disputes.

For arbitration, jurisdiction may arise from a seat in the Centre, proceedings administered by the Tashkent International Arbitration Centre with agreed court supervision, another party agreement choosing the Court, or an express applicable legal provision. The commercial court does not itself become an arbitral institution. It does not hear criminal or administrative-offence cases; special commercial and regulatory measures have a separate regime.

Appellate decisions are final and binding (Art. 29). Court instruments are issued in Uzbekistan’s name and enforced throughout its territory. Within the financial and digital centres, enforcement is undertaken by the commercial court; outside them, competent enforcement bodies use the procedure applicable to national court instruments.

Decisions must be published within thirty days. Commercial secrets may be redacted only on a party’s application and with court permission, to the extent necessary; reasoning, legal grounds and the operative part cannot be concealed. The Court also maintains the statutory wills and succession register.

Participation in the International Digital Technology Centre is addressed separately in the Enterprise Uzbekistan article. It is relevant when a company chooses a regime for digital products and services. This article covers the financial Centre and its own admission conditions.

Supervision, restrictions and participant liability

The system comprises four bodies (Art. 22): the Council, the Administration, the Financial Services Authority and the commercial court. Centre bodies are not liable for participants’ debts, and the state is not liable for Centre bodies’ debts, except where expressly provided by law.

The financial regulator sets operating requirements (Art. 28). These include, for example, capital and liquidity, corporate governance, internal audit, safeguarding and segregation of client assets, reporting, anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance and protection against market manipulation. This is a selection of supervisory areas. Specific duties follow the decisions applicable to the business concerned.

The Centre prohibits four categories of activity (Art. 15): conduct contrary to the special law, decisions or authorisation conditions; activities against public order or public morals; accepting retail deposits in Uzbek soums from persons outside the Centre without permission under rules agreed with the Central Bank; and nationally prohibited goods and services not authorised by the special law.

A participant’s fine for breaching commercial or financial activity rules is capped at USD 10 million (Art. 16) and ten per cent of the value of the relevant transaction, connected transactions or activity. The Council approves the list of violations and sanctions. Measures may include warnings, directions, compensation or restoration, disgorgement of profits, reprimands, appointment of specialists, business restrictions, prohibiting individuals from specified functions, licence conditions, suspension or revocation, urgent protective measures and other prescribed sanctions. They may supplement or replace a fine.

Example. If the relevant transaction is worth USD 2 million, ten per cent is USD 200,000. This is below the absolute USD 10 million ceiling. The actual fine depends on the applicable violation and procedure; a maximum does not mean the amount is automatically imposed. The participant is entitled to notice, an opportunity to explain and judicial review.

National rules remain applicable in expressly identified areas (Art. 12): the Constitution and international obligations; criminal and administrative law subject to special qualifications; security and defence; combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; migration control; family matters; the environment; states of emergency; sanitary welfare and healthcare; and other expressly applicable rules. Commercial violations covered by the law are subject to special measures. National criminal jurisdiction remains where criminal conduct cannot be adequately addressed (Art. 14) through the Centre’s civil or regulatory remedies.

What tax relief is provided

Relief for profits from financial services depends on qualifying participant conditions (Art. 18). A participant must simultaneously maintain sufficient economic substance in the Centre, derive the relevant income from financial services provided within the Centre or exported, and satisfy additional joint requirements of the Centre and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Formal registration is insufficient.

Personal income tax is abbreviated PIT; VAT means value added tax.

The relief in the table is established by the same article of the law. For profits, exempt and taxable income and deductible expenses must be accounted for separately under joint rules. A digital asset exchange that fails the economic substance, corporate governance, financial monitoring, cybersecurity or other requirements does not receive qualifying participant relief. Entitlement to ancillary-service relief is assessed separately.

The law does not automatically exempt an Uzbek resident’s salary. An annex to Decree UP-48 expressly provides a 7% rate for employment remuneration received by resident individuals from Centre bodies and participants under the contracts it identifies, including civil-law contracts. This rate belongs to the Centre’s special regime. It cannot be extended to every employer in Tashkent.

Example. Assume a resident employee receives UZS 10,000,000 in remuneration covered by that rate. PIT is 10,000,000 × 7% = UZS 700,000. After deducting this tax alone, UZS 9,300,000 remains. The calculation illustrates the rate; it does not replace checking the employer’s status, the payment and the regime’s applicability.

Investors’ income

Until the statutory end date, PIT and corporate income tax exemptions cover the following investment income categories (Art. 18):

• income, including capital gains, from selling securities on the Stock Exchange’s official list;
• income, including capital gains, from selling shares or ownership interests in Centre participants;
• dividends and interest on securities included in the official list on the accrual date;
• dividends on shares or ownership interests in Centre participants;
• foreign-source income of the Centre’s investment tax residents.

The law provides additional agreed conditions for dividends on exchange-traded securities and for investment tax residence. This relief does not exempt every payment to an investor regardless of its source and legal basis.

Exception for large multinational groups

Income tax relief does not apply to a participant belonging to a multinational group whose consolidated annual revenue reached EUR 750 million (Art. 19) or more in at least two of the four preceding financial years. The group must include enterprises or establishments in different countries. Such a participant pays a qualified domestic minimum tax at a rate equal to the corporate income tax rate applicable in the relevant period. Calculation, collection and administration are determined by a joint decision.

Example. A group’s revenue for the four preceding years was EUR 800 million, 740 million, 760 million and 700 million. It reached the threshold in two years, so the exception’s condition is met. Registering a subsidiary in the Centre does not itself exempt that subsidiary’s income.

Reducing the scope of relief requires Council consent (Art. 18). Its effectiveness must first be reviewed within ten years of the law’s entry into force, and subsequently at intervals of no more than five years. A review does not itself terminate the relief.

Currency, property and customs

Participants’ monetary obligations may be denominated and discharged in an agreed foreign currency (Art. 17). Digital assets are permitted only within the limits of Centre decisions and the financial regulator’s rules. Exchange rules determine the currency for exchange transactions.

For operations within the Centre’s jurisdiction, the law provides a special framework for currency reporting, foreign accounts and capital movements. Joint decisions with the Central Bank may impose requirements, and banks remain subject to the information exchange they prescribe. Freedom to repatriate capital and convert currency operates through agreed procedures; it does not exclude financial monitoring.

Property protection restricts expropriation, nationalisation, freezing and interference with the disposal of assets. The law retains expressly listed exceptions (Art. 6): final binding commercial court orders and permissible restrictions concerning anti-money laundering, sanctions, criminal proceeds and insolvency. Measures must be lawful, proportionate, procedurally compliant and subject to judicial review.

Property imported from abroad and needed for Centre bodies’ and participants’ activities within the territory qualifies for exemption from customs duty and customs fees (Art. 18) until 1 January 2076. The law links relief to use or consumption within the Centre. If the goods are used outside it, disposed of or transferred to others, customs payments are collected under customs legislation. The reference to duty and fees is not equivalent to a separate import VAT exemption.

Foreign employees and investment tax residence

Participants and Centre bodies may engage qualified foreign nationals and stateless persons without work-right confirmation (Art. 21). For foreigners employed by them, the Centre must be the principal place of work. The Administration sets qualification requirements and quotas, which must not obstruct participants’ justified staffing needs. Employers provide employee information to the Administration, which maintains records and exchanges information with the migration authority.

The law provides for entry visas of up to five years (Art. 20). Applications may be made through a diplomatic mission or after arrival at an international airport in Uzbekistan; evidence of the activity’s purpose and procedures are determined by applicable decisions. Issuance requires an Administration petition, and renewal is possible without leaving the country. Five years is the upper limit, not an unconditional term for every visa.

The investment tax residence programme (Art. 13) is intended for individuals and their families. The Council sets investment forms, amounts and participation procedures in an agreed programme. Minimum criteria are that the applicant was not an Uzbek tax resident during the preceding three years and did not cease to hold Uzbek citizenship during the preceding ten years. Recognition is denied where a principal purpose is avoiding or reducing tax on income, assets, profits or activities substantially connected with Uzbekistan.

Disclosure requirements may cover beneficial owners, sources of funds and wealth, tax residence history and sanctions status. The law attaches tax and visa rights, access to the commercial court and the wills register to the relevant status. Family means a spouse and children under 18 (Art. 2).

A mandatory payment (Art. 18) is required for confirmation of tax residence. Its amount and procedure are determined by the Administration in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The law does not establish a ready-to-use programme price. Foreign-source income relief may depend on minimum residence periods and other conditions in the relevant decision.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Centre already be treated as fully operational?

Entry into force of the Constitutional Law is not equivalent to the start of every operation. The law requires a Council readiness decision and presidential approval, followed by the activation date (Art. 31). The September decree assigns rule-preparation tasks. For a particular application, publication of registration and licensing decisions applicable to the proposed activity also matters.

Does a foreign licence give automatic admission?

No. A foreign licence requires individual assessment and supervisory cooperation (Art. 33). Temporary authorisation is possible while negotiations continue, but depends on a Council decision and additional conditions. The simplified treatment of existing national licences is a separate transitional mechanism and does not turn every overseas licence into Centre authorisation.

Are all participants exempt from corporate income tax?

No. Exemption of financial income depends on qualifying participation (Art. 18), economic substance, income sources and additional conditions. Ancillary services have their own conditions. There is also a specific exception for participants in large multinational groups. The company’s status and the tax classification of its income must therefore be assessed separately.

What minimum contribution does a private investor need?

The Constitutional Law sets no single amount. Investment forms and amounts, applicant recognition and participation procedures are determined by the investment tax residence programme (Art. 13). The law establishes minimum requirements concerning residence and citizenship history and the prevention of tax avoidance. The mandatory payment for tax residence confirmation also needs a separately determined amount and payment procedure.

Can contracts be made in Russian or Uzbek?

Parties may agree on another language for a written transaction, although English is the default language (Art. 30). Where several language versions exist, the rule prioritising English and the permissibility of an alternative agreement must be considered. This does not displace separate requirements for documents submitted to Centre bodies or the use of English in court proceedings.