Before you start

IIN
Clarity on whether your employer is an AIFC participant
A local accountant for anything structural

Step-by-step

1
Establish whether you are inside the AIFC regime
The exemption attaches to AIFC participants and AIFC bodies. Being physically located in Astana, or renting space near the former EXPO site, does not put you inside it — registration as a participant does. Ask your employer directly whether it is an AIFC participant and which of your income streams the exemption is being applied to, because the answer determines your effective tax rate by a very large margin.
Via employerWho: Anyone considering an Astana roleBefore signingFree to ask
2
Understand what the exemption to 2066 actually covers
For participants, it covers corporate income tax on income from qualifying financial-services activities carried out in the AIFC — banking, insurance and reinsurance, securities brokerage and dealing, asset management, investment advice, underwriting and the rest of the defined list. For foreign employees of participants and bodies, it covers individual income tax on income earned from AIFC work. It does not cover activities outside that list, and it does not cover Kazakh-source income earned outside the Centre. The schedule has been amended since 2018 — read the current joint acts.
OnlineWho: AIFC participants and their employeesBefore relying on itProfessional advice recommended
3
If you are outside the AIFC, use the 2026 rates
The Tax Code adopted in July 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026 taxes individual income at 10% up to annual income of KZT 35,258,000 and 15% above, with a 9% rate for certain private practice. VAT rose from 12% to 16%, with reduced rates for medicines and medical services and for printed periodicals. Corporate income tax remains 20%. Kazakhstan's long-standing flat 10% no longer exists and any comparison quoting it is out of date.
OnlineWho: Non-AIFC taxpayersFrom 1 January 2026n/a
4
Check the residency test regardless of which regime you are in
Kazakhstan applies a 183-day test over a rolling twelve-month period, with a centre-of-vital-interests limb. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents on Kazakh-source income only. The AIFC exemption is about specific income streams, not about residency — it does not stop you becoming a Kazakh tax resident, and it does not cover income from outside the Centre. That distinction is where AIFC hires with other income sources most often need advice.
OnlineWho: Everyone staying more than a few monthsBefore your first full tax yearAdvice recommended

Documents you’ll need

IIN (and BIN if you have an entity)
AIFC participant documentation, where relevant
Employment contract identifying which income is AIFC-sourced
Evidence of days present in Kazakhstan
Foreign tax returns where treaty relief is in play

Things most newcomers don’t know

The AIFC exemption to 1 January 2066 is one of the longest-dated tax commitments of any jurisdiction in this dataset — which is exactly why you should read the current terms rather than a summary.

A forty-year horizon is unusual and genuine, and it is a real reason people take Astana roles. But the schedule of covered taxes and the list of qualifying activities have been amended more than once since the Centre opened in 2018. A summary written in 2019 or 2021 may describe a scope that no longer matches. Get the current joint acts, or advice from someone who has.

Source: AIFC

For a foreign employee of an AIFC participant, the exemption covers individual income tax on AIFC earnings — not on everything you earn.

Freelance work, rental income from a Kazakh flat, or consulting for a non-AIFC Kazakh client all sit outside the exemption and are taxed under the ordinary regime. People treat the AIFC salary exemption as though it makes them tax-free in Kazakhstan and then have an unreported second income stream. It is a scoped exemption, not a status.

The AIFC Court and International Arbitration Centre sit outside Kazakhstan's judicial system and apply English common law.

This is not a tax point but it is why the tax point is credible. Contracts, employment disputes and commercial claims inside the Centre are resolved in a common-law forum with its own judges rather than in the Kazakh courts. For anyone weighing legal risk in the region, that is a genuinely different proposition from operating in Almaty, Baku or Tashkent.

Source: AIFC

Kazakhstan's flat 10% income tax — still quoted by essentially every comparison site — ceased to be the law on 1 January 2026.

The flat rate held for around two decades, which is why it reads as settled background knowledge and survives in secondary sources. The new Tax Code replaced it with a 10%/15% split and raised VAT to 16% in the same instrument. Anyone modelling an Astana move on the old figure is understating both income tax above the threshold and cost of living — unless they are inside the AIFC, in which case a different set of rules applies entirely.

Source: New Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in force 1 January 2026

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the AIFC exemption applies because the job is in Astana — it applies to registered AIFC participants and bodies
Treating the AIFC individual income tax exemption as covering all your income rather than AIFC earnings
Relying on a pre-2022 summary of the AIFC's covered taxes and qualifying activities
Modelling an ordinary Astana salary on Kazakhstan's old flat 10% rate, replaced on 1 January 2026
Ignoring the 183-day residency test because you assumed the AIFC exemption handles everything

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.