Leasing for 13,000 farmers rose in price by 3.6% due to the new VAT

This was reported by First Vice Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin in response to a parliamentary inquiry, Zakon.kz reports.

The gist in brief

• The VAT rate of 16% applies to lease payments due from January 1, 2026, including under contracts concluded earlier.
• This affects 13,181 peasant farms with financial leasing contracts with KazAgroFinance JSC.
• The additional volume of payments under existing contracts is estimated at 4.6 billion tenge.
• The ministry believes the payment increases by 3.57%, not by a third, as one might assume from the rate increase from 12% to 16%.

What the ministry decided

MPs asked whether the previous rate of 12% could be retained for contracts concluded before 2026. The ministry refused. According to Amrin, otherwise different VAT rates would apply to identical operations depending on the date the contract was signed, which violates the uniformity of taxation. The date of turnover for periodic lease payments is considered to be the date on which the payment becomes due under the contract. Therefore, payments due after January 1, 2026 are taxed at the new rate.

How much payments will increase

The response provides a calculation. If the taxable value of a payment is 100,000 tenge, previously with VAT at 12% it equaled 112,000 tenge, now with 16% it is 116,000. The additional tax is 4,000 tenge, an increase relative to the previous amount of 3.57%. Amrin emphasized that the rate increase does not mean a payment increase of 33%: the tax is charged only on the taxable portion of payments, and the remuneration under financial leasing is not included in the taxable turnover.

Why leasing is important for farmers

Leasing remains one of the main ways to upgrade machinery in rural areas. As hunn.kz wrote, in 2025 farmers received 10,400 machines under leasing worth 269 billion tenge, compared to 7,710 machines worth 178 billion tenge in 2023. The terms are preferential: a rate of 5% per annum, no down payment, and a term of up to 10 years. As of August 1, 2026, 8,920 units of machinery worth 286.5 billion tenge were delivered through KazAgroFinance, 23% more than a year earlier.

Author's conclusion

For each farm, the payment increase according to the ministry's calculation is not that large, but it affects thousands of contracts concluded under previous terms. The question of whether farmers need relief for existing leasing contracts remains a subject of discussion between MPs and the government.